Rise of the Collective
by Lord-Drakos
Summary: When an average mortal is granted the ability to travel the multiverse, what else is there to do than kick butt and take names. Follow the adventures of Dorian Mitchells as he travels the multiverse collecting an assortment of powers and tools, in the hopes of forming of an empire that will span entire galaxies. Godlike!OC, will be mostly centered in the Stargate universe.
1. Departure and Shopping

**Rise of the Collective**

**Disclaimer:** If you recognize anything in this story, I don't own it.

"Hello" - General Speaking.

_'Hello'_ - Thoughts.

* * *

**A/N:** I'd like to take a few moments to give credit to the stories and authors that assisted in the making of this story.

First is **Galactic Imperium** by **Vexmaster**, thanks for the general idea and inspiration for this story.

Second is **Evil Overlord Story** by **gothicjedi666, **thanks for the Pan-dimensional marketplace, it's a great idea and helped me save a lot of time.

Lastly is **Found** by **Senyor Fier Mensheir**, a big thanks for the character Har of Aetas who is mentioned below.

* * *

**Chapter 1:** Departure and Shopping**  
**

**-Central Multiverse. The Nexus. Unknown time-**

Within the multiverse, a void that exists everywhere and everywhen, a being composed entirely of a gaseous substance, lays in wait. Several moments pass before the being seems to shift, its form contracting and expanding as a near invisible ripple passes through it.

**"Astok, you're late."** the being growls, its booming tones tinged with annoyance.

A chuckle echoes from within the void, a second formless being appearing from absolute nothingness.

**"How can I be late Ludvig, when we exist on a plane where time is meaningless?"** the second being asks, laughing in amusement as its form flickers through a selection of bright colors.

**"It means something to me, especially when I'm stuck here, waiting for you and the others; what kept you?"** the being now known as Ludvig asks, shifting into a smaller, featureless, humanoid form.

Astok chuckles once more, flowing into the same form as his companion. **"I was summoned by a mortal, one of Kane's zealots; it took some time to grant his petty request, not to mention the time wasted transporting his offerings to my realm."**

Ludvig could only stare back in annoyance, an emotion that is quite difficult to express when one has no eyes, mouth or face in general.

**"Tch, I don't see why you continue catering to the whims of silly mortals,"** Ludvig drawls, forming a mouth in order to properly sneer. **"Why not take a page out of Harkuro's book and create some minions to handle these matters."**

Forming his own mouth, Astok grins in reply, chuckling mirthfully. **"Where would be the fun in that? It's so much better to be there in person, watching as the mortals grovel in awe at my greatness."**

With a snort, Ludvig turns his head to the left, seemingly staring into the endless expanse of the void. **"Whatever, at least you're here, where are the others?"**

**"Hm..."** Astok begins, featureless head cocked to the side in thought. **"I think Astria plans to continue abstaining, she still bears a grudge over your actions from the game six cycles ago."**

**"What else is new? It's been six hundred years and she still won't speak to me."** Ludvig scoffs, rolling his newly formed eyes in annoyance. **"It's not my fault that her chosen race were taking far too long to achieve the goal, Ante's Q continuum completed the task fifty thousand years before Astria's Alterans, it was just too sad and boring to watch."**

Astok chuckles at that, nodding in agreement. **"That is true, they may have taken many more years if you hadn't created that plague, imminent death really caused them to buck up and focus. Regardless, she refuses to join unless you apologize for cheating."**

**"Yeah. Right."** Ludvig replies with another scoff, turning his gaze to a different area of the void. **"What of Errata and Gatun?"**

Astok chuckles once more, shaking his head from side to side at the stubbornness of his friend.** "Errata is abstaining as well, he is still infatuated with that little immortal of his, Denise or something, I forgot her name."**

**"Delirium of the Endless."** Ludvig supplies, sounding distracted. **"Errata wouldn't stop talking about her the last time we met."**

**"Yeah that's the one, Delirium, weird kid that one but a looker as far as quasi-immortals go."** Astok replies with a nod. **"As for Gatun, he's off playing mortal again, that should keep him distracted and busy for another century or so, depends on how long he wants to stay 'alive' this time."**

Frowning with annoyance, Ludvig turns his attention to the semi-human form of his friend. **"Lynette?"**

**"Abstaining, she and Astria are still watching over the Alterans,"** Astok answers with a frown. **"Fat load of good that is, those ascended never do anything of interest, what with their 'no interference' policy and all."**

**"Indeed, this is why I favored the Ori and the Q, at least they actually **_**do**_** things. All those Ascended want to do is sit around and revel in their own glory, what a waste of time and effort."** Ludvig replies smugly.

**"Sure, sure, whatever you say."** Astok chuckles, waving his hand nonchalantly. **"It looks like it's just me and you this time."**

Ludvig nods at that. **"Not surprising, those guys never seem to show up whenever it's my turn."**

**"I wonder why."** Astok chuckles in reply. **"Maybe it's because you always seem to overpower your chosen?"**

**"What?"** Ludvig gasps in mock shock, sounding astonished. **"I do not."**

**"Oh? What about the Kyptonians?"** Astok asks, forming a thin, golden eyebrow in order to raise it curiously.

**"You've got to be kidding me; I limited their powers on their own home world and made them all weak to a small piece of radioactive rock." **Ludvig defends.

**"Only after Astria threatened to quit playing that round, and even then she had to destroy their planet before you did so."** Astok comments with a chuckle, raising a second brow in question. **"What about that dark wizard from three rounds ago, Volde-something? Not only did you make him more powerful that everyone else on his world, you made him pseudo-immortal."**

**"Hey! Koran's guy was still able to kill him, twice, and on a fluke both times."** Ludvig counters. **"I don't see how that count's as being overpowered."**

**"Alright, I'll give you that one; being killed by an infant was kind of pathetic."** Astok grumbles. **"What abou-"**

**"Can we just get started?"** Ludvig interrupts, sighing in annoyance.** "I don't want to waste my time listening to complaints from the same guy that gives all his chosen time travel abilities."**

**"Psh, that's a great ability and you know it."**

**"Whatever, can we just get started?"** Ludvig asks impatiently.

**"Fine, go ahead. It's not like we have all the time in the multiverse."** Astok replies sarcastically, forming eyes to roll in annoyance. **"Oh wait, we do."**

**"Uh huh, anyways,"** Ludvig begins, ignoring his friends comment. **"I'm sure you'll be glad to know that I've picked a regular human this time, just a regular old mortal."**

**"Oh ho? I find that hard to believe."** Astok interjects, grinning knowingly. **"What bonus did you give this 'regular' mortal?"**

Ludvig perks up at that, excitement flooding through his form as he holds up a hand, drawing on the near-infinite amount of power at his disposal. With a silent ripple, a device appears in his hand, pulled from the very fabric of the multiverse. The device in question is a metallic-silver armguard, long enough to fully cover the arm of an adult male, with a six buttons on its surface, as well as a five inch LED screen.

Astok sighs, head hanging in defeat as he took in the device in his friend's hand. **"Is that what I think it is?"**

**"Yup! It's a multi-universal reality splitter, complete with a twentieth level artificial intelligence program, matter storage and materialization device, as well as cloaking device, trans-phase device and many more."** Ludvig replies proudly, beaming widely in excitement. **"One of the greatest devices ever created by mortal-kind, capable of traveling through the multiverse to any time and place, wonderful isn't it?"**

**"Simply fascinating,"** Astok drawls, sighing at his friend's excitement. **"And highly overpowered."**

**"Oh please, you know it's a great idea." **Ludvig scoffs, dismissing the device with a wave of his hand.** "Compared to Gatun's game from the last round, this should be **_**way**_** more fun, especially since this guy is a fan of Astria's world, as well as yours."**

**"Oh? Which one, the Superheroes or the Jedi?"** Astok asks curiously, his two best known worlds coming to mind.

Ludvig grins at that, knowing that his companion was definitely interested now. **"Both, almost all of our worlds are known in his, through video games, comics, movies and books, he knows of most of them and is a fan of our work."**

**"Huh, this might be fun after all." **Astok whistles, a small grin slowly stretching across his face. **"The last time we had a multi-universal game, it was Lynette's idea and her chosen was only interested in romance stories and chick flicks, I can only watch mortals procreate so many times before it gets boring."**

Ludvig laughs at that, the memory coming to him clearly. **"No need to worry about that, the mortal I've chosen is quite partial to a little action and violence; in fact, he might just welcome it."**

**"Good, as long as it's entertaining."** Astok replies, holding a hand out to his friend.** "What's your chosen's name this time? Not another pathetic anagram I hope, Voldemort was bad enough."**

Ludvig chuckles at that, taking his friends hand and guiding him towards the proper world. **"Not at all, his name is Dorian. Dorian Edward Mitchells."**

With a ripple through the fabric of space and time, both vanish, headed towards a certain area of the Multiverse, where one Dorian Mitchells is currently waking to a grand and wonderful destiny.

* * *

**-Earth 347-3. Dorian's Place. March of 2006-**

I wake with a groan, my head throbbing from a major hangover, not surprising considering how much I had to drink last night. Being Canadian and having just turned eighteen, the legal drinking age in Alberta, you can all see why I'm so hung over. Regardless, a major hangover doesn't stop me from noticing the large metal armguard on my bedside table, something I definitely don't remember ever seeing before; considering the fact that my eyeglasses are right next to it, I think I would remember placing it there.

A casual observer of my small room would instantly class me as a nerd of most things fantasy and Sci-fi, considering all the action figures, model spaceships, DVDs, books and whatnot that I have, it's not a misplaced guess. Despite the large collection of items I own, I don't remember ever buying this armguard, so where did it come from?

"Huh, maybe it's a birthday present." I wonder, sitting up from my bed, much to the complaint of my aching cranium. "I wonder who it's from though, I don't remember unwrapping this at the party."

Examining the armguard closely, I notice there's a small screen at the top of the armguard as well as six little buttons at the bottom, a push of said buttons does nothing however. Well, that sucks. I was hoping one of these would turn the device on or something, but they all seem to do the same thing, absolutely nothing.

"Huh, oh well, it looks interesting enough." I mutter, poking the small screen just in case.

As poking it and pushing the buttons does nothing, I toss it on my bed and stand up, I can look at it later but right now I need a shower.

Exiting the bathroom, my towel around my waist and my hair dripping with water, I glance over at the bed and notice the armguard sparkling in the light. It seems to call to me, drawing my attention with its silvery sheen.

It takes some effort to turn my attention away from the armguard but I do so and begin dressing, I have a long day of classes ahead, hangover or not.

With a final glance at the armguard, I turn and head for the door, trying to put it out of my mind.

For weeks the armguard lays on my shelf, another toy amongst many more trinkets of the kind. I often find my attention drawn to it, wondering who had gifted it to me as none of my friends lay claim to the strange gift, yet I never thought to wear it; I'm a collector, I don't play with my collection.

* * *

**-Earth 347-3. Dorian's Place. July of 2012-**

Eventually the weeks turn into months and the months turn into years until I find myself packing up my collection, a man of twenty four and a newly graduated Astrophysicist, a career choice based entirely on my favorite television show and character; the snarky, yet brilliant, Rodney McKay of the Stargate series.

With a major part of my education complete, I'm now free to pursue endeavors I'd always dreamed of as a kid, such as seeing the world and traveling to far off and exotic locations. Buoyed by my happy thoughts, I continue packing my collection away, smiling fondly as I glance over each item in turn; a smile that drops as I finally pick up the armguard. I still feel a strange sort of connection to this item, as well as a pull to put it on, to wear it despite knowing that it does nothing.

'_Hmm, maybe I can fix it; get it to do whatever it's supposed to do.' _I wonder, absent mindedly slipping the device onto my right arm, it fits perfectly.

In addition to my major in astrophysics, I have a minor degree in mechanical engineering, just like the great Dr. McKay; I may not be a natural genius like the character portrayed in the show, but I'm more than able to hold my own in these two fields. I don't know why I never considered this before, if the device is broken in some way then why don't I just fix it? It might just end up being some kind of children's game or something, but I'll enjoy fixing it and an armguard gaming device might be pretty fun.

Before my thoughts can continue wandering, an ominous sounding click echoes throughout the room, originating from right below me. Slowly looking down, I'm shocked to see that the band around my arm has seamlessly sealed itself shut, even as I search frantically, I can't find a single crease in the metal; if I didn't know better, I would think it was always one complete unit.

"What the hell?" I whisper to myself, my fingers tugging at the device in an effort to remove it.

Despite my efforts, the device doesn't budge an inch, it won't come off. As I watch, in mild curiosity rather than the horror I should be feeling, the small screen seems to light up and a series of words begin running across its surface, words written in a language I don't recognize. I continue to stare at the screen in an effort to find a word or sentence I can understand, it's to no avail and the strange language continues to race across the screen.

By this point I've dropped onto my bed, my attention fully focused on the device around my arm and the words on the screen, I'm tempted to press one of the buttons but I don't know whether they'll make things better or worse.

Unfortunately, things do get worse, with no help on my part.

With another ominous click, followed by the whirling of machinery, something within the device seems to activate and I can feel as a slot slides open on the underside of the band.

I grimace as I feel three pinpricks on my forearm, three needle-like objects poking at my skin from within the open slot.

I wince as the first needle breaks through the skin, stopping just under the epidermis.

I gasp as the second needle pierces through muscle and fat, stabbing into the veins of my arm.

I scream as the third and final needle grinds through bone, drilling into the marrow of my radius.

The pain is like nothing I've ever felt before, having led a relatively sheltered and pain-free life, but I can just focus enough to realize that something is being pumped into my body through the three needles, an ice cold sensation filling me as the substance begins flowing through my body.

_'Great, I went and poisoned myself.'_ I curse; feeling woozy as the icy feeling grips my heart and creeps towards my brain. '_Good job dumb ass.'_

With that I collapse onto the bed, the world going dark as I slip into unconsciousness.

* * *

**-Central Multiverse. Earth 347-3. July of 2012-**

**"Finally! I was starting to think he'd never put it on."** Astok crows, watching the unconscious body of their current form of entertainment.

**"I know, it was getting really annoying."** Ludvig agrees, nodding along**. "I had to cast several mild compulsions on him in order to get it on; he has a very strong will."**

**"Well, at least he got it on eventually, that's what matters."** Astok replies, before raising a brow in question.** "It's not supposed to render him unconscious though, what's up with that?"**

**"Ah, I may have added a few additions to the device."** Ludvig answered, grinning sheepishly.

**"Additions? What sort of additions."** Astok asks, turning to his companion with a curious gleam in his eyes.

**"Well... the original creators already knew everything the device is capable of, Dorian does not." **Ludvig begins, eying the form of said mortal. **"I don't have the patience required to sit and watch him figuring out the devices functions, which could take who knows how long, so I installed an info dumb of the device's user manual; I guess it was just too much information for a mortal to handle at one time, hence the unconsciousness."**

**"Ah."** Astok hums, turning his gaze back to the unconscious mortal in question. **"Let's hope it doesn't kill him then, mortal minds are so fragile."**

**"Indeed." Ludvig chuckles, head nodding along in agreement.**

* * *

**-Earth 347-3. Dorian's Place. July of 2012-**

I can't help but groan as I wake, my head throbbing from the strain it's just been put through; a massive info dumb will tend to do that to you. Sitting up from my bed, I stare at the device around my arm with a mix of shock and awe, there's no way this device was created on earth, heck I can't even imagine the type of beings that would be powerful and brilliant enough to create such a device.

While it may appear as a simple armguard, this device is capable of cutting through the walls between realities, allowing the wearer to traverse the multiverse and cross through space and time, that's definitely beyond the capabilities of humanity. So, how did such a powerful tool come into my hands? If it wasn't for the rarity and complexity of such a device, I would be pulling it apart in order to figure out what makes it tick, I now know everything it can do but I don't know how it does those things and my engineering side is just screaming to have a crack at this device.

Speaking of which, I should probably get around to initializing it before the nanites now floating within me decide to reduce me into a pile of slimy, grey goo. After watching so many episodes of SG1 and Atlantis, I can't help but feel a twinge of fear at the knowledge that millions of little machines are currently floating through my body, machines far more advanced than anything ever encountered in those two shows.

While the nanites are programmed to assist me in a variety of ways, without the correct initialization code they would eventually devour me from the inside out until only a pile of metallic goo remains, a painfully unfortunate way to die. Luckily, my info dump has provided me with the correct code to initialize those very nanites and prevent a very slow and painful death, yay me.

Pressing the third button on the **M**ulti-**U**niversal **R**eality **S**plitter (**MURS**), I bring up the **N**anite **C**ontrol **I**nterface (**NCI**) and enter the code provided by the info dump, a series of numbers and words in a language I didn't know until moments ago.

I'm exceptionally pleased when the word 'Initialized' flashes on the small screen.

Although the word appears in that strange language that I now know is not human in origin, I'm able to easily understand it now, all thanks to the nanites swimming within me. While the nanites in my blood and bones are programmed to alter my physiology in a way that allows me to survive the rigors of passing through space-time rips (as well as preventing Entropic Cascade Failure), the nanites in my brain will allow me to see and hear the AI program of the device, as well as grant me the ability to understand and speak any language programmed into the device's database.

Speaking of AI programs…

"Caine!" I shout loudly, activating the AI program of the device.

A flash of white light causes me to close my eyes, an unnecessary action as the light is coming from within my mind, not my actual surroundings, but I keep them closed out of reflex. I reopen my eyes after a few seconds, just in time to notice the man standing before me, a man that has simply appeared out of thin air. He's average looking in appearance with short black hair, piercing grey eyes and wearing the exact same t-shirt and jeans as I am; this is the physical representation of Caine the AI.

**C.A.I.N.E**, the **C**ybernetic **A**rtificially **I**ntelligent **N**ano **E**ntity, this being is basically my helper in the use of the MURS device. Despite having the complete user's manual downloaded into my mind, there are still a variety of functions that I can only achieve through Caine's assistance, most of which are so complicated that only an AI program can handle the required calculations. He's basically like Jarvis for Ironman, assisting me in any way he can while making sure I don't do anything stupid or potentially life-threatening.

While I know for a fact he's not actually in the room, it's just the nanites within me altering my perception so I can 'see' and 'hear' him, (much like Urgo from SG1, except less annoying) he still appears to be very real to me. It's quite fascinating to actually see this advanced technology at work, and my engineering side rises to the forefront once again as I glance down at the device, oh if I could just take a peek at its insides.

_"Greeting user, I am Caine."_ the AI greets with a kind smile; he could easily pass for a human if I didn't know better._ "What is your designation?"_

"Uh… Dorian…" I reply out loud, still amazed at the highly advanced technological being before me.

_"Greetings, Dorian."_ Caine replies, smiling once more. _"How may I be of assistance?"_

Good question, what exactly am I going to do with this device? I can literally go anywhere and any when I want, but should I really take off just like that? Hell yes I should! I don't really have anything tying me here, my parents and I are no longer on speaking terms and most of my friends are acquaintances at best, nothing is tying me to this world, this reality, I can go anywhere I please; you bet I'm going to take this opportunity.

A passing glance at my collection causes a wide grin to cross my face, I can literally visit any one of those realities, they may just be fictitious in my reality but I know that they exist somewhere in the multiverse and with Caine's help, I can visit them. The first item on top of the pile catches my eye, a model of the Alteran vessel _'Destiny'_, and I can't help but imagine what a visit there would be like. I could see the SGC, visit Atlantis, interact with the many planets and people in that reality; I could even fight the Wraith and the Goa'uld. With my knowledge of that reality, I can do anything I set my mind to, the entire universe is at my fingertips and I just need to reach out and grasp it.

"Can you take me to the Stargate universe?" I ask, standing up from my bed so the AI doesn't continue to tower above me.

He looks confused at my request, head cocked to the side and eyebrow raised in question.

_"I am not familiar with such a reality. I will require more information in order to transport you to the correct location."_ Caine replies, smiling once again.

Crap, I should have thought of this beforehand. Just because I know of the universe doesn't mean he does as well, if I want to traverse the multiverse then I need to be more specific with my destination, Caine only has a limited knowledge of the various realities out there and I have zero knowledge of the precise coordinates of the realities I'm interested in.

Hmm, maybe if I...

Grinning deviously, I walk over to my desk and turn on my laptop, Caine watches silently as the device boots up and I type in my password. Once my laptop is up and running, I enter my Wi-Fi password and open Firefox, accessing the worldwide web. With the internet up and running, I hold out my arm and press the second button on the MURS, activating the **T**echnological **I**nterface **D**evice (**TID**).

Almost instantly, a slot opens at the front of the MURS and three silvery tendrils shoot out of the slot, moving far too fast for me to follow. All three tendrils pierce through my keyboard and into the inner workings of my laptop, easily interfacing with the hardware of the less advanced device. The screen on the MURS flickers for a moment before a series of numbers begin running across its surface, complex computer code raining down much like the Matrix Digital Codes used in movies.

_"Interfacing complete, what are your orders?"_ Cain asks from behind me, spooking me as I'd almost forgotten he was there.

With the MURS interfaced with my laptop, and subsequently every other device connected through the internet, I've given Caine access to the entire knowledge of the human race; a daunting prospect to any fan of the Terminator series, daunting indeed.

"How much data can be stored on your database?" I ask, as this wasn't presented through the info dump.

The AI is silent for a few seconds before he answers, the laptop screen flickering as he seems to access it in some way. _"With optimum compression, I can store a thousand of your 'zettabytes' worth of information on my own database. With access to the nanite network, my data storage capabilities are nearly endless."_

My eyes widen in shock as I stare at the device on my arm, that's a lot of data storage capacity for such a small device, especially when you consider the fact that there is, at the most, two zettabytes of information stored on the entire planet. Seeing as Caine can also access the storage capacity of each single nanite, much like Replicarter, he really can store infinite amounts of information, how terrifying.

"Uh, you should have access to the internet through my laptop." I comment, shell shocked at my new discovery. "Download everything you can."

His eyes glaze over for a moment and the numbers on the MURS screen begin streaming quickly, moving so fast that it's almost one solid block of green. Ten minutes later, the tendrils detach from my laptop, leaving the smoking shell of the device behind as the laptop seems to have overheated from the rapid download.

_"I am finished Dorian."_ Caine comments, shocking me at the speed he completed such a task. _"I have identified the 'Stargate' reality, shall I transport you there?"_

"Not yet." I mutter in a low tone, still amazed at the device around my arm.

While I want to head off right away and explore the multiverse, the power displayed by my AI has shocked me out of my excitement, causing me to rethink my plans. While I would just **love** to visit one of my favorite universes, there's the inherent danger of such a trip to consider. Take the Stargate universe for example, where can I really go as I am now? If I make a wrong move there, I could die at the hands of the Goa'uld, or the Replicators, or the Wraith or a myriad of other dangerous beings living in that universe. It's not like I can just visit the SGC either, if they find out what I know and what Caine can do, I would lose my arm and find myself locked up in Area 51 faster than I can say 'I come in peace'.

Nope, that universe is definitely out right now, as are many more of my favorites. Honestly, I'm just too weak to survive a trip through the multiverse, even with the abilities granted to me through Caine.

"Aha!" I shout out loud, grinning widely and ignoring the confused look on the AI's face.

I may be far too weak for some of the worlds out there but I can change all that, I can make myself stronger, faster, smarter. I'm not just talking about pumping Iron and running some laps either, I'm talking about honest to goodness gene splicing and mutations and superpowers, the stuff every kid wishes they can have. With Caine's technological advancement and my knowledge of the universes out there, I can rebuild this flimsy, human body into a thing of legend, a body worthy of a god. Heck, I can even build myself an army if I'm so inclined, there are millions of races out there looking for the right kind of leadership and I can provide them with what they need.

This is my chance to right the wrongs of the multiverse, to play god as I so please, to do what no man has ever done before. I can see it now, a magnificent empire spanning millions of worlds in millions of realms, my empire, and it's all possible thanks to this little device on my arm.

Grinning widely, I begin planning, plans so devious and complex that none would ever expect them, the universe is at my fingertips and I plan to seize it.

**"This is the Police, we have the place surrounded, come out with your hands up!"** the loud tone of a cop on a megaphone dashes my thought away and I look up with confusion, that sounds like it's just outside my place.

"The hell?" I mutter, peeking through my blinds. Yup, they're definitely speaking to me. "Why are the cops here?"

I'm not expecting an answer but I receive one none the less.

_"They have tracked my download of the 'Internet' Dorian."_ Caine explains, coming to stand beside me and glancing through the blinds. _"The device I interfaced with was far too inferior to sustain a subtle and slow download; I was forced to work far too quickly to cover up."_

I groan and step back from the window, I'd wanted a few days to plan and prepare myself but it looks like I have no choice in the matter, I'll have to leave now unless I want to face some jail time.

**"This is your last warning, come out with your hands up!"**

"Alright Caine, it's time to go." I mutter, sparing a glance at my collection. I don't really need any of it at this point, with every bit of stored data from this planet within Caine, I have all the reference material I'll require, but I will miss some of those items however.

_"Where shall I transport you?"_ the AI asks, looking almost giddy at the thought.

I cock my head to the side in thought, ignoring the shouts from outside the building as the cops are given permission to break into my place. Where do I want to go first? Before I can consider gaining abilities to improve myself, I need to stock up on supplies and some money, a lot of money if I plan to accomplish such grand goals.

"Hmm, I need money and supplies without the hassle of dealing with people," I begin, forming a plan of action. "How about..."

* * *

**-Earth 390-5. Fort Knox. April of 2024-**

Humming to myself to ward of the creepiness of the absolute silence that surrounds me, I stroll through the depths of Fort Knox unopposed. After drawing up some rough plans, I had Caine transport me to a post-apocalyptic reality, a reality clear of human opposition but full of useful supplies and money. While the inside of this fortress is sealed shut and fairly livable, Caine informs me that the outside is an irradiated wasteland crawling with flesh eating mutants, scary.

As long as I can ignore the silence of a world without humans, I should be fine enough to complete my task, it's not like I plan to stay here long. My stroll comes to a stop as I reach my target, an extremely thick, tightly sealed vault door.

With only a second's pause, I press the fifth button of my arm device and gasp as my entire body seems to vibrate, shaking as a wave of invisible energy flows from my head down to my feet. With a deep breath to prepare myself, I continue walking forward, watching in amazement as first my legs, then my hands, and then the rest of my body simply passes through the vault door; it's a strange feeling, phasing through solid matter. This is phasing technology far more advanced than anything I've ever imagined, it only serves to increase my desire to open the MURS and see just what makes it tick.

Once I'm on the other side of the vault, I deactivate the phasing device and glance around the room, Caine's nanites manipulating my perception once more so I can clearly see in the darkness of the room. A wide grin splits my face in half as I take in the objects stored in this room, my sole reason for coming to this reality, 4578 metric tons of solid gold bullion. Roughly 232 billion Canadian dollars in gold bars and it's all mine for the taking, I can't suppress a joyful giggle as I gaze over the stacks of golden bars, also noticing the small boxes containing other precious materials.

What a wonderful day.

Still grinning widely, I hold up the MURS and press the first button on its surface, activating the matter storage capacity of the device. There's a whirl of machinery activating, echoing loudly in the silence of this vault, and then with a flash of white light, the bars begin vanishing one by one. Thanks to the **M**atter **S**torage and **M**aterialization **D**evice (**MSMD**) built into the armguard, Caine can break materials down into their base components and store them away until I order him to re-materialize them. This also includes organic materials such as food and animals, but any living being stored within the device will not survive the materialization process, it just wasn't programmed to be used like that and there's no way I'm smart enough to tinker about with technology this advanced.

It takes roughly three seconds for Caine to dematerialize and store every single bar of gold, as well as the lock-boxes full of precious materials. With a literal fortune stored in my wrist, I don't need to worry about money ever again, although I do need to find a place to convert it all into actual cash.

"Caine," I call, summoning the AI. "I need to have this gold converted into money, find a realm where I can do so without worrying about law enforcement asking questions about the US treasury seals on the bars."

_"Very well Dorian, I have such a place in my database."_ Caine replies after a moment, activating whatever device it is that allows him to cross through dimensions.

With an almost silent rip, the space before me seems to tear as Caine pierces a hole through the fabric of reality, it's quite a disorienting sight, staring into an endless void of colors and shapes. With a deep breath out of reflex, I step into the rip and I'm pulled through space-time and into the multiverse, headed for god knows where.

* * *

**-Central Multiverse. Pan-Dimensional Marketplace. Cycle 3403-**

Exiting the reality tear, I find myself standing within the strangest city I've ever witnessed, a city beyond anything ever portrayed in any fictional series. The city is quite large, hundreds of buildings spanning into the distance, with thousands of people bustling through the many streets.

The city itself seems to be a mix of fantasy and Sci-fi, the buildings and people looking like they're right out of the middle ages, yet at the same time I can see different devices that are far more advanced than anything found on earth. There are also the inhabitants of this place to take into account; I can clearly see creatures and beings straight out of fictional works, and many more that I don't even recognize. Even as I watch, all sorts of aliens, demons, cyborgs and much, much more pass me by, focused on their individual tasks as they visit the multitude of stores around us.

What an interesting place.

"Where are we?" I ask in a low tone, so only Caine can hear, although none of the beings passing beside me seem to even care that I've just appeared out of thin air.

_"The Pan-Dimensional Marketplace."_ Caine replies, appearing at my side just in time to have a large, green and four armed being walk through him. _"It is a place where individuals capable of traversing the multiverse can gather and purchase wares of a varying nature."_

Huh, that's pretty cool actually.

"Nice, so where can I convert this gold?" I ask, walking forward before some creature decides to pick a fight with the guy blocking up the street.

Caine guides me to what seems to be a bank of some kind, run by creatures that I can only assume are Goblins, based on the fact that they look frighteningly similar to the Goblins from the Harry Potter movies. Passing by what definitely looks like the main character from the Overlord games, I make my way to one of the empty tellers, who looks at me with a noteworthy sneer.

"Humph, a regular human?" the Goblin teller asks, glaring down at me from his high seat. "How interesting, we don't get many of your kind around here; most humans that pass through here tend to be of the magical nature."

As the Goblin speaks, I notice that there's an undertone to his words, one coming across in a language I don't understand; good to know that Caine's translation software carries the Goblin tongue of all things. I frown as his words register in my mind, wondering how he can tell that I'm just a normal human and whether I'm in any danger here, I should be fine though; Caine wouldn't have brought me here if it wasn't safe to do so.

"Err... hello." I greet nervously in flawless Goblin, hoping these Goblins aren't as bad as the ones portrayed in many book series. "I want to convert some gold bars into useable currency."

The Goblin stares at me for a few seconds, either surprised that I can speak his tongue or suspicious of my claim, before snorting and fishing out some papers from his desk.

"Probably stolen from some unclaimed vault or another." He mutters to himself, just loud enough for me to hear. "Wouldn't be the first time, dimensional travelers just can't seem get a job like us hard working Goblins."

Huh, guess my idea wasn't all that original, I wonder how many more of these travelers have raided the Fort Knox of other realities, must be a lot if the Goblin is making such a stink about it.

"Sign your name here in order to make an account." The Goblin grumbles, passing me a sheet of paper and a pen, at least they're more advanced than the Harry Potter Goblins, I don't think I'll have much skill writing with a quill.

Picking up the pen, I have Caine scan the paper through my eyes in search of a harmful clause or tricky small print; he doesn't find anything so I sign my full name on the page.

"Dorian Edward Mitchells." the Goblin sniffs, glancing at the page. "No silly titles or claims of lordship? For shame human, for shame."

I can only stare back incredulously at his comment, uncertain of how I should reply, was that a joke or is he seriously disappointed? The Goblin simply ignores me and pulls out a weight scale, an electric scale at that, so much more advanced than Harry Potter Goblins.

"Hand me a sample of your wares human," he commands, holding out a hand. "I will weigh and test it for impurities."

I blink once before his request registers, at which point I hold out my hand and have Caine materialize a single gold bar, much to the Goblin's surprise.

"Interesting, a multi-universal reality splitter, however did you manage to lay your hands on one of those?" he asks, admiring the device on my arm.

"Uh, I found it." I reply, wondering if these devices are all that rare in the multiverse, probably not.

"Indeed? How interesting." the Goblin comments, turning his attention to the golden bar in his hand.

Rather than weigh and test the gold, the Goblin simply sighs in annoyance and rubs the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

"A United States Treasury Seal, how utterly unexpected." he grumbles, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Let me guess, you visited a post-apocalyptic Fort Knox."

I blink at that and nod slowly, utterly surprised at the correct guess. "How did you know?"

He sighs once more and drops the bar on his desk, glaring down at me from his high seat.

"Because it's so fucking unoriginal that's how, you're the third human to come in this week with one of these bars." The Goblin snaps in reply, flicking the bar to emphasize his point. "The only original thing about you is that you have no magic and your name isn't 'Gothic', other than that you're just like the last two clients that strolled through here."

"Oh." I mutter, completely surprised at this revelation, I know it's a big multiverse out there and these sorts of things can happen, but I didn't expect it on my first day as a traveler. "Sorry?"

"I'm sure you are." he drawls in a bland tone. "I'm willing to bet that you cleaned out the entire vault rather than take a few bars, correct?"

I nod in reply again, causing him to sigh and rub his temples.

"Of course you did, you humans are far too greedy." he mutters, just loud enough for me to hear once again. "What form of currency are you most familiar with?"

"Canadian dollars." I reply, having lived in Canada all my life, I'm not all that great with other forms of currency.

The Goblin blinks at that, looking very surprised at my answer.

"Well, that's a first, we've never had a Canadian come through here before." he comments, glancing me over once more. "You're far more civilized than I expected, for a human."

"Uh, thanks?"

"You're welcome."

After an awkward moment where I simply stare at the Goblin and he stares back, he clears his throat and picks up a sheet on his desk.

"With all the gold and jewels passing through here on a daily basis, our conversion rates are much lower than those of the human realms, to make up for this we are able to fully convert and store all of your wares with no restrictions; a service you'll be hard pressed to find in any other reality." he explains, eyes skimming over the sheet in his hand. "For the entirety of Fort Knox, 4578 metric tons of gold bullion and an assortment of precious items, we can pay you 268 billion Canadian dollars, is that acceptable?"

My eyes gleam and my grin widens at such a massive offer, I knew I would be getting a lot of money for this but to hear it spoken out loud? Simply amazing.

"Yes, that's fine." I reply, the number running through my mind over and over again.

The Goblin nods and writes something on his paper before passing it to me, it seems to be a receipt of some kind, one that I sign without pause. With that done, the Goblin nods and presses a button on his desk, causing the floor beside his desk to vanish, revealing a dark hole into the depths of the bank.

"Make your deposit here." he instructs, tipping the gold bar off his desk and into a hole.

I shrug and point my hand at the hole, materializing every single item stored within my device. Once that's done, the Goblin presses the button to seal the hole and places two items on his desk, a thin, plain black wallet and an honest to god MasterCard.

"The wallet will provide you with any amount and currency you require; simply ask and it will deliver." The Goblin explains, handing me the wallet as he does so. "The card is multidimensional, it will work with any purchasing device within the multiverse, simply place it on the device or under a scanner and it will do the rest. Do not lose them."

With that he drops out of his seat and walks away, without a goodbye or anything, how rude. Regardless, I grab the card and tuck it into my new wallet, which I then store within Caine for safety. With my business here complete, I head for the exit and leave the bank, eyes darting around the marketplace before me.

Time for a shopping spree.

* * *

Shopping in the pan-dimensional marketplace is, in a word, tiring. There were so many stores, so many vendors, just screaming for my attention, far too many in my opinion. While a large majority of this place seems to be composed of the homes and apartments of the inhabitants of this realm, not to mention the odd pub and pawn store, the rest of the buildings are shops of varying wares.

Much to my disgust, a large majority of the shop's I pass sell nothing but slaves, slaves of different ages, genders, and races; heck, there's even a store where you can create your ideal slave and have them cloned by the hundreds. Being Canadian, heck even being a modern human being, I'm completely against slavery. Yet it seems that slavery is completely legal in this realm, not surprising as the ruler here happens to be a demon, a demon named 'Simon' of all things.

Luckily for me, there are many other small businesses that don't deal in slaves, among these are the two types that I'm searching for, a clothing store and a weapons dealer. As I plan to travel the multiverse, visiting a few realms from my younger years and ultimately ending up in the Stargate universe, I need to look my best and carry a few weapons for protection. Although I plan to pick up a certain ability while in the X-men universe, it doesn't hurt to carry a gun, if only for visual intimidation.

With a target it sight, I stroll through the market place and into my first stop, a high class clothing store.

* * *

"Welcome to Multiverse Apparel, I'm Ciel" one of the many clerks greets as I enter the store. "Do you need help finding anything?"

Ciel is a young woman, in her late teens, much like the clothing store clerks back home. What sets her apart however is her blue tinted skin, third nostril, second pair of eyes on her forehead and the purple vines trailing from the top of her head down to her shoulders. I can't even begin to fathom what sort of creature she is, as I've never come across anything similar in appearance, but I do my best not to stare.

Putting on what I hope is a charming smile, I nod and walk over to Ciel, wondering what language she's speaking as the undertones are quite different from the Goblin tongue. The language seems to be a mix of low popping sounds and guttural growls, a strange language without any noticeable words.

"Hi, I'm looking for a new outfit." I comment in her strange tongue, waving a hand over the stained T-shirt and faded blue jeans I'm currently wearing. "Something more professional and fashionable."

She smiles at that and waves a hand over the store, where a multitude of varying beings are going about their own shopping. "We have a wide selection of styles here, is there anything you're looking for specifically?"

Sure enough her words ring true, this is a store that caters to a wide variety of customers. Scattered around the store are a series of mannequins, some human and many not, each wearing a different style of clothing. The type of clothing on each mannequin varies greatly, be it the dark and dreadful armor on a large demon-like mannequin or the light and angelic robes on a winged mannequin, the store seems to have it all. Luckily for me, I'm searching for something a little simpler, yet just as impressive.

"Ah, yes actually." I reply, pointing to a section that seems to carry men's suits. "I was thinking of something along the lines of a business suit, do you carry anything by Giorgio Armani?"

I'm not much of a suit guy, although I will admit that I look pretty dashing in a well-made tux, but I know enough to know that Armani's are the best money can buy. I also know enough to admit that a guy in a suit can be far more intimidating than a guy in armor, just look at Ray Wise as the devil from the show Reaper, he wears a simple suit but he's still one scary S.O.B.

Ciel perks up at my comment, her eyes twinkling in excitement. "Oh yes, we carry a few Armani's, I know just the thing for you though, it's even better than an Armani."

I shrug and follow as she leads me to the suit section, right to what is (unsurprisingly) a mannequin wearing the most expensive suit in the store; I'll give her some her credit though, it's an awesome looking suit and seems to be well worth the price.

The item in question is a standard two piece suit, complete with button up shirt, polished black shoes and a tie. What sets this suit apart from others however, apart from the million dollar price tag, is the fabric it's woven from.

The suit, tie and pants all seem to be woven from the same strange fabric, a dark cloth that appears to be in constant motion. From a distance, it appears to be a simple black suit, maybe even a dark grey or dark blue in certain lighting. Up close however, I can't help but notice that the dark colors of the suit are in constant motion, endlessly swirling around and around much like the accretion disk of a black hole, flowing towards the topmost button of the suit; it's an entrancing and dizzying sight.

The shirt and socks of the outfit are of the same color, a dark red that goes well with the black of the suit, but on closer observation I notice that the red dye of both articles of clothing seem to be continually moving as well, flowing sluggishly like coagulated blood; a disturbing, yet fascinating, sight. The only normal parts of the entire outfit are the dress shoes, which are polished to a degree beyond human capability, and the small golden cufflinks, carved in the form of an accretion disk.

"Oh wow," I comment with an impressed whistle. "That's quite a suit."

"Yuppers." Ciel agrees excitedly, already imagining the commission she'll make from such a sale. "It's part of our 'Cosmic' collection."

"Cosmic collection?" I ask curiously, wondering what else is involved in such a collection.

"Yup, this is the Singularity Suit, with the Lifeblood Shirt as an addition." she replies, before pointing to a few more mannequins at varying ends of the store. "Over there are the Blue Sky Robes, Night Sky Cloak and Nebula T-shirt."

Sure enough, I can clearly see why each item has earned its name. The first is a well cut set of sky-blue robes, with fluffy, white clouds slowly floating across its surface. Placed roughly where the heart would be is a small yellow sphere, appearing to be a distant sun high in the sky, yet it releases enough light to actually illuminate the section of the store it's placed in.

On the other end of the store is a mannequin wearing a pitch black cloak, one that seems to absorb all light from its surroundings. Scattered all across the cloak are a multitude of twinkling white lights, much like the stars on a night sky, and at the bottom of the cloak is half of a large sphere, one that looks startlingly like the moon. To finish up the effect, a single spot of light would randomly shoot across the cloak every few seconds, miniature shooting stars on an impressive backdrop.

Lastly is a t-shirt that reminds me of the rainbow tie dyed shirts from back home, except the colors are constantly in motion, appearing like a mass of flowing gasses. With my head tilted at the right angle, I can actually see through the fabric of the shirt, as if it truly is composed of a gaseous substance.

"Impressive." I comment, eying each article with an appreciative eye, that's a nice bit of magic right there. "They're all by the same guy?"

"Yeah, same with the Twilight Boots, Dusk Cap and Supernova Mitts." Ciel replies, already measuring my body and pulling out a set of the Singularity Suit in my size. "His name is Har of Aetas, I don't know much about him but he likes to drop in from time to time with new clothing ideas, they all tend to sell well."

Huh, imagine that, a multidimensional fashion designer.

Ciel hands me the selected clothes and pushes me towards the changing room, smiling all the while. "All of his clothing lines are also enchanted to be self-cleaning and self-repairing and they all come with built in temperature regulation, it will save you the time and money of having your clothes enchanted elsewhere."

Well, that all sounds positively nifty. I may not know much about enchanting, but having clothes that don't need to be cleaned or patched up sounds pretty useful, especially when you consider how much I'm going to be paying for this single suit.

It takes me a few minutes to change into the suit, most of which is spent admiring how entrancing the fabric is up close and how cool it feels on my skin, before I'm dragged out by Ceil and parked in front of a mirror for last minute alterations. While she's adjusting the suit's dimensions, I can't help but admire my reflection in the mirror and how impressive I look in this suit, the way it's cut is a nice mix of professional business man and intimidating government agent; sort of like James Bond meets Bruce Wayne, I'm sure you can all imagine how awesome that is.

Considering how much it's going to cost me, looking awesome is the least I can ask for; although I really need to do something about my hair, it's too much of a shaggy mess for my liking.

"Alright, all done." Ciel comments after a few minutes, drawing me from my thoughts and back into reality. "Do you need anything else? Most types that come through here only really need one outfit, especially with all the enchantments available."

I nod in agreement with that line of thinking, I don't see much point in buying several pairs of clothing when I can wear something that never gets dirty or damaged. Some variety might be good from time to time, but I won't have much need of it where I'm going; although, that Night Sky Cloak does look mighty fancy, it's a pity no one wears cloaks in this day and age. Then again, a few of the realities I plan to visit aren't exactly 'modern' so to say.

"Yes actually," I reply, nodding towards the cloak in question. "Add the Night Sky Cloak to my purchase please."

I can almost see the dollar signs in her eyes as she rushes off to grab a cloak, I can't help but wonder how much percentage she makes off commission.

* * *

With my new suit adorned, my old t-shirt and jeans in the trash and my cloak stored within Caine, I head towards the next building to catch my eye; a hair salon. It's been a few months since my last haircut, as such my hair is an overgrown mess of shaggy, black curls, not a very fitting style with the suit I have on.

Entering the building, I receive a simple grunt from the owner, a female troll very similar in appearance to those of the Warcraft series, interesting.

"Hello," I greet with a smile naturally slipping into her native tongue, surprisingly the troll language is in fact English with a slight Jamaican accent, who would have thought. "I need a haircut."

She looks up from the magazine in her hands and grunts again, nodding towards a nearby seat. As the salon is empty, I don't have to wait for my turn and the troll walks over the second I'm sitting.

"Style?" she asks simply, an emerald glow beginning to surround her hands.

I spend a few seconds in thought, much to the troll's annoyance, imagining the different styles I can ask for. I want something exotic and 'different', as a normal human hairstyle just isn't going to cut it. At the same time, I don't want something over the top, like Hades' flame hair, Yugi Moto's spiky hair or anything related to the Saiyans of the Dragon Ball Z series.

It's a bit tough to decide.

Finally, after a few minutes of thought, I settle on a suitable hairstyle and have Caine display a holographic image from his Google database. The troll simply takes an annoyed glance at the image and gets to work, her long fingers sinking into my hair as she does her thing.

Surprisingly, the entire thing is done solely with magic, there are no cutting tools or a cream involved as she dyes and styles my hair. A simple wave of her hand causes the hair to withdraw painlessly into my scalp, slowly retreating until it's at the ideal length. A massage of my scalp causes the color to fade away, my ebony locks turning pure white before the new color (metallic silver) slowly seeps in. Lastly she snaps her fingers and my hair jumps to attention, magically brushing and styling itself.

All this takes less than five minutes, her magic allowing her to do things beyond the best hairstylist on earth, amazing. Although my eyes are an unattractive shade of murky brown, with my hair styled exactly like the image I've provided, I can honestly pass as a clone of Vergil Sparda, main villain of the third installment of the Devil May Cry series; I may not like the guy but I can't complain about the hair, it just works, especially in conjugation with this suit.

"Twenty-three gold." The troll grunts out, holding out a hand.

I smile and pay her, pleased with my haircut despite her rude behavior; then again she is a troll, this could be considered exceptionally polite for her kind, I don't really know.

With my business complete, I head for the exit, grinning as I catch my reflection in one of the salon's mirrors. This is an appearance that, when coupled with the mutation and abilities I plan to acquire, will ensure that the collective villains of the multiverse will think twice before messing with me; well I hope so, as most of these villains happen to be gods in their own right.

Still, it can't hurt to look good, especially when it comes to the enchanting females of my favorite universes.

One last stop appearance wise, then I can get to the best part, weapons.

* * *

"Welcome, welcome." the store clerk greets as I enter his small shop. "I am Clinoticitolicratis Dafusalem Makejan the forty fifth, owner of this fine establishment, but you can call me Clint. How can I help you today?"

Clint is a tall, skinny human, roughly forty years old, with an oddly cheerful expression on his face. With shoulder length black hair and heterochromatic eyes, one green and one red, Clint happens to be the most normal looking person I've met in this market. This is saying a lot considering the fact he happens to be a cyborg, an easily noticeable fact due to his a robotic left arm, antenna like ears and metallic lower jaw. He also happens to speak German of all languages, a language that I can easily recognize although I don't speak it myself.

"Hello Clint, I'm Dorian." I reply in greeting, smiling as I make my way to his counter. "Your sign says you can repair bad eyesight, among other things."

"Oh yes," Clint grins cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "Repairing eyesight is so, so easy, it's manipulating the eyes that causes some difficulty."

"Manipulating?" I ask curiously, glancing at the rows of different eyeballs floating in jars around the store.

"Yup, there are a few ways I can change the eyes." Clint explains, pulling out a catalog of all things, a Harry Potter style catalog with honest to god moving pictures at that. "Some people want to see invisible things, others want to see in the dark, and some just want their eye color changed, I can do all that and more. Although, some manipulations are more difficult than others and there is a limit to how much manipulation the eyes can handle before they burst."

Huh, that's interesting, although the whole bursting thing sounds a bit painful, the gain seems to outweigh the risk. However, I just want my eyes repaired at the moment, but I do have plans to tweak my vision at a later point, I wonder if Clint has what I need. I know that I can just have Caine and his nanites permanently repair my eyes, rather than their current method of altering my perception, but they've been programmed to only make a limited number of alterations on my body (Five max) and I don't feel like wasting one when there's a shop for it right here.

"Do you carry Sharingan or Byakugan eyes?" I ask, flipping through the catalog in search of the familiar Dojutsu of the Narutoverse.

"Oh yes, those are two of the most sought after manipulations that I can provide." Clint replies, flipping the catalog to the correct page for me, where the spinning red and black of the Sharingan stares back at me. "Unfortunately, not many can buy them as you need the proper genes and energy wavelength to use them effectively."

Damn, it looks like I'll need to get some Uchiha or Hyuuga DNA, as well as my own chakra system, if I want the Sharingan or Byakugan; a difficult task considering how alert and paranoid Ninjas can be, especially when it comes to strangers after their blood samples. I'll worry about that later, right now I just want my eyes fixed so I don't have to wear these glasses anymore.

"Alright," I begin, closing the catalog and looking up at Clint, who still has that wide grin on his face. "I'll settle with a simple repair job for now."

Clint chuckles and pulls out a small penlight-like device, grinning widely all the while. "Good choice, most people tend to request a ton of manipulations on their eyes, it's always funny to watch them scream as their eyes pop."

Right my mistake, he's not cheerful, just creepy. Joy.

It takes Clint a measly five minutes to repair my vision, a task that he completes right there at the counter without the need for big, clunky machinery, it continues to amaze me the things one can do with a touch of magic and a hint of science.

Roughly three years ago in my home reality, I underwent laser eye repair to fix my bad eyesight, other than a week of irritated eyes and near blindness, nothing changed. Which is why it's extremely fascinating to stand and watch as my eyes are repaired in less than five minutes, all by a tall, skinny cyborg with a small penlight-like device.

The penlight device in Clint's hand, another item I would just love a chance to tear apart and examine, is somehow able to manipulate and regenerate the damaged portions of my inner eye, repairing them and granting me near perfect vision; it's not a permanent fix but it will be years before my eyes begin to deteriorate once again.

Once the procedure is done, Clint's grin seems to widen and he tucks the device away, watching as I blink and test out my new eyesight.

"Oh wow, this is awesome." I cheer, reading the smallest line on the eye chart from across the room. "This is even better than when I had my glasses."

"Thank you," Clint chuckles, opening the catalog once more. "Would you like anything else?"

I take a glance at the catalog, tempted to buy some manipulations after witnessing his work first hand, but his comments about exploding eyes tempers my excitement; maybe something simple to start off with.

"Uh, can you change the color of my eyes?" I ask, frowning at the murky brown orbs that stare back from within the mirror.

"Oh yes, that is another easy procedure." Clint replies, pulling out his penlight. "Any colors you favor?"

"Can you change the entire eye ball, or is it only the iris?" I ask, an image coming to mind.

Clint's grin widens, a scary image considering the kinds of things he finds funny. "My profession involves the entire eyeball; anything related to the eyes is within my capabilities, no matter the difficulty."

That's a yes then, awesome.

With that, I have Caine pull up another image from his Google database, I can already see how this little function will be quite useful in the future, downloading the entirety of the internet seems to be paying off quite nicely.

"Can you apply these colors to my eyes?" I ask, displaying the image for him.

Clint claps his hands cheerfully again and flips through the catalog once more, stopping at a page with a similar set of eyes, a golden orb on a backdrop of pitch black darkness.

"Oh yes," he agrees, tapping the image with a robotic finger. "I remember buying the blueprint for these quite a while ago, Hollow eyes the seller called them."

Sure enough, the image zooms out and I can see that the eyes displayed belong to a Hollow, an Adjuchas class Hollow straight out of the Bleach manga; awesome.

"That's the color I want," I reply, frowning in slight worry. "Will my eyes be able to handle the manipulation?"

Clint nods excitedly, pulling out his penlight device once more. "You bet, color changing is quite a simple task, there's very little manipulation involved.

This time it only takes him two minutes to manipulate my eyes, the white and brown easily parting for the black and gold of my new eyes, a creepy event to witness in the mirror.

"There you go." Clint comments once both eyes have been changed, pulling the device away from my eyes. "Anything else?"

I look up from the mirror, tearing my glance away from the entrancing sight of my new eyes. "No, that's all, thanks. My preferred currency is Canadian dollars, how much do I owe you?"

His grin shrinks a little at that but he remains cheerful. "Nothing else? Are you sure? There are so many more manipulations your eyes can handle."

I shake my head, causing his grin to shrink another degree. "Not at this time, maybe in the future when I have the correct genes and energy."

His grin is almost gone at this point but he nods and consults his catalog. "Hmm, a standard eye repair and Hollow style coloration, that comes to eight hundred per eye, so sixteen hundred dollars total."

I materialize my wallet and pay him in cash, preferring to save my card for amounts higher than five thousand.

"Heh, you must make a lot of money from the folks with more than two eyes." I comment while waiting for my receipt, although I'm not really sure why I need one, eye repair and coloration doesn't exactly scream 'refundable' to me.

Clint chuckles at my comment, his grin returning as he hands me the receipt. "Oh yes indeed, in fact I once made over a million off a Beholder and Gorgon couple, so many eyes to work with on those two species."

I laugh at that, an image of the two creatures coming to mind, and make my way for the door. "Thanks again Clint, I'll be seeing you."

"Oh, I know you will." He replies, grinning and waving.

Creepy guy.

* * *

With my clothing, hair and eyes out of the way, I can finally move on to my last and most exciting stop in the marketplace, the weapons store. I'm not a mighty big fan of guns and other weapons, nor am I all that knowledgeable on the subject, but I can tell the basic differences between each type of weapon, even if the make and caliber means nothing to me.

Still, as a lover of first person shooters and sci-fi, I just can't wait to get my hands on some, as Jack O'Neill would say, 'big honking space guns'.

Entering the weapons store is like a dream come true, as I notice several weapons that just scream 'alien' attached to the walls, all of which are suffused by an inner glow from their various power sources. Grinning widely, I make my way through the store, staring at each gun in a sort of nerdy amazement. I notice several guns that have been taken right out of my favorite fictional works, be it the Needler from the HALO game series or the Phaser of the Star Trek universe, this store seems to carry it all.

It's as I'm scrolling through the store that I notice one particular gun, a gun that I remember purchasing a replica of, a gun that almost gives me a nerdgasm to view. While it's in matte black and polished to a shine, I can easily recognize the familiar form of the Particle Magnum used by Ronon Dex from Stargate Atlantis, the best energy pistol in the entire Stargate universe.

My excited squeal seems to draw the attention of the store clerk, who chuckles and makes his way over. The clerk reminds me of Killer Croc from the DC comics' universe, with his large, muscled form, covered in green and yellow scales, as well as his crocodile-like head and bright crimson eyes. To add to his intimidation factor, he has two large assault rifles strapped to his back, one glowing a sickly green and the other a bright purple.

"Hey buddy," he greets, speaking English in what is definitely a Southern American accent, big surprise there. "I'm Sal, you spot something you like?"

I grin and nod, politely holding out a hand. "Hey Sal, I'm Dorian, nice to meet you."

He grins in reply, showing off rows of razor sharp teeth, and shakes my hand. "Right back atcha, you looking for anything in particular Dorian?"

"Yeah, I want three of those." I reply, excitedly pointing at the Particle Magnum. Three seems like a good number to buy, one for me, one as a spare and one as a friendly gift for the amazing John Sheppard.

"Ah, the good ol' Traveler-class Particle Magnum," Sal chuckles, opening the display case and pressing a small button below the weapon three times. With triple flashes of white light, three long boxes appear stacked at the checkout counter, neat. "An excellent choice, do you need a power cell charger?"

I frown slightly at that, I don't know how often the PM needs to be recharged; it's not really mentioned on the Stargate fan sites.

"How often does it need to be recharged?" I ask, hoping Sal knows.

He makes a humming sound and seems to consider it for a moment before answering. "With constant use? I'd say once every three cycles."

_'Cycle?'_ I wonder, not exactly knowledgeable on this form of telling time. Luckily, Caine seems to have this information stored in his databanks.

_"A cycle is a single year in the Marketplace, spanning roughly two earth years."_ The AI provides, allowing me to avoid looking like a fool in front of Sal.

Right, so one cycle equals two years, which means the guns will only need to be recharged every six years at a minimum, that's a long time.

"I should be fine; I'll stop in here if I need a recharge." I reply, getting a nod from him. If I can't make it here for a recharge, I can always visit the Pegasus galaxy, Ronon had to get his magnum charged somewhere after all.

"Good call mate." Sal agrees with another tooth-filled grin. "That all for you today?"

I glance around the store once more, taking in all the weapons on display, all of which seem to be quite intimidating under closer scrutiny. Buying a pistol is one thing, an assault rifle or shotgun? That's a whole different can of beans. Seeing as I've never really fired a gun before, I'll need quite a bit of practice with whatever I decide to buy, should I really get anything more complicated than a pistol?

Yeah, I probably should.

A pistol, even if it's Ronon's Particle Magnum, just isn't going to cut it in the multiverse. I'm probably going to need something with a little more 'kick', especially if I happen to come across any enemies that are immune to energy-based weapons fire, I.E. Replicators, the Asurans, the Borg and a slew of other energy adaptive races. Stocking up on a variety of weapons might just come in handy someday; after all you never know when you just might need a rocket launcher or sniper rifle.

The words 'variety' and 'gun' bring an image to mind, one that causes what can only be called an evil, mischievous smirk to cross my face; I have the perfect weapon in mind.

"Tell me Sal," I begin in a devious tone, eyes glinting mischievously. "Do you carry the Zorg ZF-1 Pod weapon."

His replying grin is far more evil than mine; the booming laughter that follows it tells me that I've just made his day.

* * *

Due to my enthusiasm, I end up buying two Zorg ZF-1's, as well as several rounds of spare ammunition. Ammunition that comes in the form of a few thousand bullets, dozens of rockets, arrows, nets and gas canisters, all of which I store within Caine for easy transport and access. For my excellent choice in weapons and hefty bill, Sal provides me with a free pistol holster, allowing me to carry one Particle Magnum under my suit jacket. It will likely take some practice and training until I can draw the weapon with speed and ease, but I'll get there eventually.

In addition to the three magnums and two Zorgs, I also splurged on a few smaller purchases.

The first is a pack of one hundred HALOverse sticky grenades, an item that caught my eye as I was paying at the front counter, an item that I just had to buy. These are by far the easiest grenades to use, not counting Borderlands homing grenades, as they stick to whatever they're thrown at; I won't have to worry about having them bounce/roll correctly or other such nonsense.

In the melee section of the store, I almost released another squeal as I notice the weapons Sal has on display, namely the lightsaber of the Star Wars universe. I'd originally planned to steal a lightsaber off a Jedi or Sith while in the Star Wars universe, but getting a chance to buy my own customized lightsaber? That's an opportunity I just can't pass up.

In addition to the lightsaber, I also pick up a pair of HALOverse energy swords, another weapon I just couldn't pass up. While the lightsaber is an excellent offensive weapon, as well as a great cutting tool, it's nothing compared to the sharpened edge of a HALOverse energy sword. While both weapons can cut through even the toughest of metals, the lightsaber requires more time depending on the density of the material, whereas the energy sword can cut through the same material with relative ease; an advantage only offset by the limited uses of the energy sword, compared to the unlimited use of the lightsaber.

Although these are the two greatest weapons I will ever lay my hands on, I don't plan to use them anytime soon, not until I have the proper training at least; a decision that's backed by Sal's advice as well as dozens of fan sites, which clearly warn me of the risk of chopping my own limbs off, a risk I'm just not willing to take.

The last weapon I bought is one I did not expect to ever find in such a store, an actual Ghostbusters style Proton Pack. Apparently it's a big seller, being one of the few weapons effective against ethereal beings, imagine that. I just can't wait to try this out against Anubis and the Ori, that should be a great barrel of laughs, other than that I won't have much use for the Proton Pack, unless I decide to take up ghost hunting.

With most of my shopping complete, I decide to stop in at the inn before heading out, it been a long day and while I'm not all that tired, I could use some food and a drink.


	2. Mutants and Heroes

**Rise of the Collective**

**Disclaimer:** If you recognize anything in this story, I don't own it.

"Hello" - General Speaking.

_'Hello'_ - Thoughts.

* * *

**Chapter 2: **Mutants and Heroes

**-Earth 616-5. Off the coast of Cuba. October of 1962-**

Exiting the reality tear, I find myself standing right beside the metallic hull of a beached submarine, while the sounds of shouting and battle resound around me; yup, definitely in the right place. While the X-men comics and cartoons were quite enjoyed by many of my friends, I'd never been much of a fan, the movies on the other hand? Now that's where my interest lay, it's also why I now find myself in a universe based off the events of the X-men: First Class movie rather than the true X-men storyline.

"-my is out there, I feel their guns moving in the water." A voice calls, one that I can clearly hear from this side of the island. "Target-"

From the short monolog now drifting to me from the other side of the Island, I'm guessing this is the just after Magneto goes dark side; I'm just in time then.

Grinning wide, I activate the phase-shift capabilities of the MURS and pass through the walls of the submarine, passing through the broken and battered vessel with relative ease. With a few long strides, I find myself standing on the other side of the submarine, a small group of mutants gathered before me. Luckily, none of them seem to notice me, as their attention is locked on the forms of an arguing Magneto and Xavier. With a skip in my step, silent steps as I'm out of phase, I make my way towards my goal, the cooling corpse of Sebastian Shaw.

As I have to deactivate the phase-shift technology in order to interact with the normal world, I do so and drop to one knee, a single hand on Shaw's chest.

_'Caine.'_ I call mentally, summoning the dormant AI from the depths of my mind.

He appears across from me, knelt beside Shaw's corpse in the same manner, I also notice that he's now wearing a suit exactly like mine, fancy that.

_"Yes Dorian?"_ Caine inquires with his ever present smile on full display. "How may I be of assistance?"

The loud boom of firing missile's echoes around the island but I pay it no mind, I already know how this ends.

_'Initiate a gene splice.'_ I command, receiving a nod from Caine.

I manage to stifle my pain-filled screams as three long needles imbed themselves into my arm once more, digging into my flesh and bone to retrieve a batch of nanites, removing them rather than inserting new ones. With an almost silent 'click', a small port opens at the front of the device and I watch in amazement as a thick stream of silver sludge pours out from the device and onto Shaw's chest, eating through the clothing and seeping into the flesh underneath. There's a three second pause before the sludge seeps back out of Shaw's skin, the millions of little nanites crawling up my arm and back into the MURS, carrying samples of Shaw's blood cells and bone marrow.

_"Alternate genome acquired."_ Caine reports in an excited tone, a labeled DNA double helix appearing on the MURS screen. _"Genome appears to be primarily human with a single mutated gene, what are your orders Dorian?"_

_'Splice the mutated gene with my own genome, also search your database for the mutant known as Sebastian Shaw and download all information on the use of his abilities directly into my neural nanite database."_ I order, grimacing as another bout of pain runs up my arm, the nanites reentering my system.

By this time, the missiles have been stopped by Magneto and he and Xavier are engaging in a round of verbal tug of war, I should probably hurry up before someone notices me. I'm surprised none of them have noticed yet, especially Xavier and Beast, Xavier I can understand since his mind is elsewhere right now but Beast should be able to smell and hear me, I guess he's just too caught up with the dozens of missiles bearing down on the island.

My worries and thoughts are washed away as I feel a flow of information pouring directly into my mind, every scientific explanation, every fan based assumption, every little tidbit to do with Sebastian Shaw's mutant abilities is downloaded directly into my mind, giving me the mother of all headaches. Luckily, my nanites have gotten well experienced with my brain chemistry and they're able to quickly deal with the headache, that's going to come in handy the next time I face a killer hangovers.

With the simplest task complete, Caine vanishes from my sight as every single nanite focuses on one task, mutating my genome with Shaw's X-GENE. My entire form seems to pulse, waves of energy running through me as my DNA is manipulated on the genetic level, I can see what the victims of Nirrti meant when they said 'something within me has been changed'. It's an odd feeling and it will take some getting used to, but I think the benefits will far outweigh the discomfort, especially as I don't need to worry about genetic degeneration and dissolving into a puddle of water.

After a few minutes, during which Xavier and Magneto have their little struggle and Xavier takes a bullet to the spine, my body stops pulsing and a feeling of perpetual warmth fills me. I can feel my new mutation at the back of my mind, just waiting to be called upon, waiting to be used. It's definitely an odd feeling, but one that I will most assuredly be getting used to.

I know that I shouldn't even feel my mutation, as it takes years of practice for a mutant to get to this level of control, but that's where the nanites come in. After all, it is through them that I've gained this ability; they have a deep connection with my very cells, allowing me to control my mutant abilities with relative ease.

Thank god for that because the mutants seem to have finally noticed me, I just wish they would stop staring like that, it's like they haven't seen someone like me appearing out of thin air; ironic as Azazel is standing right over there.

* * *

**-Earth 616-5. Off the coast of Cuba. October of 1962-**

_'Oh god my legs, I can't feel my legs.'_ Charles Xavier raged mentally, groaning in pain as felt Erik pull the bullet from his back. _'Dammit Erik, how could you do this?'_

Even with his mind blocked to him, Charles could still feel the rage and pain within his friend, Erik was truly sorry that this happened; yet it was still his fault. Charles groaned once more as he felt the minds of the others wash over his senses, his pain feeding his mutant powers and allowing their strong emotions to breach through the wall of pain and regret that filled him. He could feel the worry and fear from the Raven and the others, the fear and regret from Agent MacTaggert and the traitor Angel, the indifference of the red skinned Azazel and the wind controlling Riptide.

Yet there was one more, there was some one new on the island, someone that had definitely not been there minutes ago. Charles could sense the glee of accomplishment from this strange presence, glee that was only offset by an undertone of focused determination, who was this? Ignoring Erik's presence at his side, ignoring the man's whispered apologies, Charles focused the entirety of his psychic ability of this new presence.

He could only gasp in awe as he touched the mind of this being, this strange entity, whatever this creature was; it was most definitely not human. Rather than the rush of thoughts and memories that he would usually receive from touching another's mind, Charles found himself overwhelmed by millions of tiny little voices, all of whom were speaking at once. Within this one being, he could sense a million tiny minds, all focused towards one single goal, a goal that he could not determine through the multitude of voices.

This was a hive mind beyond anything he had ever encountered, even the minds of bees and ants weren't this powerful, this focused and complex.

For the first time in many years, Charles Xavier felt true fear.

"E-erik." He called, silencing his friend's words. "Look up Erik, there is someone here, someone who doesn't belong."

He received a strange look from the other man but Erik had learned to trust his words, no matter their disagreement, so he looked up, his head turning in search of the strange entity. Charles could tell the exact moment his friend found the entity, easily noticeable by the widening of Erik's eyes, and the mental flow of surprise as everyone else noticed the being. As he couldn't turn to look, he closed his eyes and dropped into Hank's mind, viewing the entity through the superior vision of the beast-like mutant.

Surprisingly, he was met with the form of a young male, not the horrifying eldritch abomination his imagination had supplied. Despite the elderly color of his hair, the man looked to be around his age, if not a few years younger, and was dressed in the most entrancing outfit Charles had ever laid eyes upon.

_'Is that his mutation at work?' _Charles wondered, assuming this was some sort of mutant and not a hive-minded alien being. _'What sort of mutation would allow his clothing to move like that? What purpose does it serve?'_

Then he noticed the man's eyes, eyes that were the exact opposite, yet similar, to those of his oldest friend. Was this man a relation of Ravens? Certainly not a father but who knows, if he had Raven's shifting abilities then he could appear to be whatever age he wanted. That wouldn't explain the man's strange mind however, it wouldn't explain the millions of minds that he had sensed, nor would it explain what the man was doing here, with a hand on the corpse of Sebastian Shaw.

"Who are you?" he heard Erik shout, a sound that was distant yet close at the same time.

Charles could only hope this ended well, whoever this man was; he had to be powerful, powerful and dangerous.

* * *

"Who are you?" Magneto shouted, his tone commanding and demanding a response.

I already have what I came here for, this would be an excellent time to open a rift and leave but I just don't feel like it, I have this new mutation at my disposal, why not test it out? A feral grin crosses my face as I stand, causing the first generation of X-men to take a step back nervously, this should be fun.

"Me? I am no one of importance." I reply with a chuckle, my mind racing as I try to think of a mutant name, they all have one so why can't I? "You may simply call me... Accretion."

This might be my nerdy, astrophysicist side rearing its ugly head but I like the name, it definitely fits in this regard. For starters, the design of my suit is that of a dark accretion disk, and when coupled with my newly gained ability to absorb and manipulate all forms of energy, it's a very fitting name.

"Accretion." Magneto sneers, the word running down his tongue heatedly. "What are you doing here? Are you one of Shaw's men?"

His eyes flicker over to Azazel, Riptide and Angel but they all shake their heads, letting everyone know that I'm most certainly not with them.

I chuckle and hold up a hand, a ball of crimson energy sparking to life at my fingertips, causing Magneto's eyes to narrow dangerously, a wave of my hand causes to the ball to dissipate to no effect. What Shaw didn't know, but many X-men fans rave about, was that his energy absorption ability is a small branch of a much grander power; Energy manipulation.

While Shaw was able to easily absorb incoming energy and release it in a manner of his choosing, I can do far, far more, I can manipulate energy at its most basic level. All forms of energy are within my dome of influence, I can do whatever I please with any form of energy, even manipulating cosmic energy is within my power, essentially I've achieved a form of godhood; hey, if a little kid like Franklin Richards could have this much power, then I'm more than entitled to it.

Now, I don't consider myself to be anywhere on the level as beings such as 'The One Above All', 'The Living Tribunal', 'The Daedric Princes' or 'The Endless', but I can probably go toe to toe with 'The Ascended and The Ori', 'Apocalypse' or 'Darkseid', and that's saying quite a lot.

"There was something here I needed." I reply, glancing at Shaw's corpse. "So I came to get it."

I don't know how that all works out in his mind, but the next instant I find myself flying back and pinned against the submarine as Magneto's eyes burn with anger.

"Shaw is mine, I won't allow you to take his body." he growls, squeezing his hand and causing the MURS, my cufflinks and my gun to press into me painfully. Luckily, the nanites within me are far too small for him to manipulate at this time or I might be in a spot of trouble, maybe once he's older and stronger but not now, and not ever if he continues this attack and forces me to kill him.

Even with my near infinite power, I'm not immortal, if Magneto had sensed my nanites and used them to attack me from the inside, I would be dead, no question about it. Rather than panic at finding myself pinned against the wall, I chuckle in amusement and grasp onto the part of my mind linked to my mutant abilities, mentally bending it to my will. A centimeter thick aura of crimson energy surrounds my entire form, absorbing the electromagnetic energy Magneto is asserting on me and allowing me to drop down, free from his influence.

The look of shock on his face is simply Kodak worthy.

"Oh, don't worry little mutant." I reply in an amused tone, brushing imaginary dust off my shoulders. "I have no interest in that worthless husk; I already have what I came for."

I can feel his powers continually slamming against my energy barrier, causing it to flare an extra millimeter or so as it absorbs the miniscule amounts of electromagnetic energy he's throwing at me, I don't even need to expend my own energy powering the barrier, he's doing it for me.

"Who are you?" Magneto shouts angrily. "Why won't my powers work, I know you have metal on you."

This comes as a shock to the other X-men, as they've mostly been paying attention to me and didn't notice the look on Magneto's face when I nullified his powers, as far as they knew, he'd released me.

"What are you talking about Erik?" Mystique calls, the first one other than Magneto to speak since I made my appearance. "We all saw you pin him against the sub."

"He did something to free himself." Beast answers in Magnetos place, his fabled intellect putting two and two together. "Somehow, he was able to free himself from Erik's power and now it won't work on him anymore."

"H-he's not human." Xavier gasps, drawing everyone's attention, mine included. "I don't think he's a mutant either."

That causes me to raise a brow in question, hiding my shock as best I can, I wonder why he thinks that. I haven't really done anything beyond the capabilities of a normal mutant and it can't be because of my appearance, not with Azazel, Mystique and Beast standing right over there.

"Oh? What makes you say that Charles?" I ask, surprising him by the casual use of his name.

"Y-your mind," He gasps again, the pain must be getting to him. "I touched your mind; I could feel it, feel them. T-there are over a million minds within your body, millions of minds shouting as they work towards an indeterminable goal."

That seems to shock everyone, myself included. I didn't even know the nanites could be sensed by a telepath, heck I didn't even know they had minds of their own. A human form replicator I can expect to have its own mind and thoughts, after all they are sentient beings capable of creating electrical impulses much like those of a human brain, but such individual thoughts should be far beyond the capabilities of an individual nanite, just how advanced are the creators of the MURS?

At this point everyone is staring at me in shock, soaking in this new bit of information. I can deny his claim and explain just what I am to them, or I can go with the flow and accept it. Damn, too bad I already gave them my name, this would be a really good chance for an 'I am Legion' line; oh well, maybe next time.

"Huh, I didn't think you would be able to notice that, impressive." I reply in a cheerful tone, striding forward.

I begin making my way towards Xavier, ignoring the others as I focus on his form. I don't really have anything against the guy and he seems to be in a lot of pain, this will give me the chance to manipulate some healing energies and practice with it, besides I've seen just enough of the comics to know how badass walking Xavier is compared to wheelchair Xavier.

My intentions with Charles however, seem suspect to the rest of the group as I hear both Magneto and Mystique shout, "Stay away from him!"

I don't much feel like explaining my every action to a bunch of suspicious mutants, an action that would most likely set a precedent that could lead to the fatal flaw of powerful beings everywhere, monologing, so I simply continue forward without pause. Magneto growls and finally loses his short temper, deciding to actually stop me rather than continue asking. However, rather than uselessly throwing his power against my barrier again, he uses his powers to lift a heavy piece of nearby wreckage and tosses it at me.

With a confident smirk, I hold up my left hand and stop the wreckage midair, using his own powers against him. I can feel him pushing at the wreckage, trying to overpower my influence and crush me with it but I've absorbed more than enough of his power to gain a mastery over electromagnetic force, there's no way he can able to overpower me with it.

That's another thing I've found about my powers, it appears that being subjected to a certain wavelength of energy allows me greater ease when it comes to manipulating that frequency of the energy. For example, absorbing Magneto's power now allows me to use the 'magnetic' frequency of EM radiation with greater ease than if I were to try using just electric radiation or X-rays or any of the other forms of EM radiation. While I can still manipulate all forms of energy, being subjected to a certain wavelength will allow me greater ease and control, something that might just be required someday.

"What are you doing!?" Magneto shouts at the others, all of whom are watching our struggle in shock. "Stop him!"

That seems to snap them out of it and they all focus on a single goal, stopping me.

The first to act is Azazel, the red skinned demon having aligned himself with Magneto after Shaw's death, and he teleports away with a poof, disappearing from his spot meters away and reappearing behind me. With fast, practiced movements, he swings at my neck with his sword while his tail stabs for my heart; it has no effect as my aura easily absorbs the kinetic energy of his strike.

In retaliation, I swing at him with my free hand, hoping to land a heavy blow powered by his own kinetic energy but he manages to quickly teleport away, avoiding a hit that probably would have killed him. I am pleased to see him frown as he notices that even my clothes are unmarred, showing the true ineffectiveness of his attack.

My attention is drawn away from Azazel however, as one of the 'noble' X-men decides to attack while my back is turned, this comes in the form of a powerful sonic screech from Banshee. While loud and annoying as it flies towards me, the attack has no effect at all as the sound energy is absorbed by my aura, leaving only dead silence as what's left of the pulse passes through me.

Without pause, I turn as much as I can with one hand held steady, reach into my suit to draw my Particle Magnum, and quickly fire a bolt of red energy at the shocked Banshee. Even if the energy bolt wasn't flying so fast, Banshee is far too shocked at his failed attack to dodge in time, allowing the energy bolt to clip his right shoulder; it's not bad for my first shot ever, but I'm a bit peeved as I was aiming for his head. Despite such a bad miss, I can't help but grin as the portion of the bolt that didn't strike Banshee continues on to strike a surprised Mystique in the chest, rendering them both unconscious.

It may have been a big miss, but that was one lucky shot.

Watching two of their team drop to the ground, unmoving, Beast and Havoc both lose their cool, the former more so than the latter. With a loud feral roar, Beast launches himself at me, running on all fours and quickly closing the distance in his enraged state. Despite the massive blue beast bearing down on me, my attention is solely on Havoc, who has furiously launched two disks of glowing plasma right at me.

My smirk turns into a grin as I flick my upheld hand, ending the struggle with Magneto and tossing the piece of wreckage towards the sea, much to his shocked anger as he could do nothing to prevent it; like I said before, maybe when he's older and stronger, right now he's no match for me, not when I can use greater amounts of his own power against him like this.

The plasma disks are just a few feet away now but I manage to tuck my gun back into the holster, freeing up both hands just in time to catch Havoc's plasma disks, my form splitting and blurring much like Shaw's as I condense the raw energy into a small, compact ball. There are a few gasps at this familiar blast from the past, X-men and Hellfire Club alike feeling the same emotions, shock and surprise.

I don't pay them any mind though; I still have three hundred pounds of enraged Beast bearing down on me, quite the terrifying sight. Still, despite the terror inducing form of a charging Beast, I manage keep my cool, fully confident in my abilities, confidence gained from the knowledge that I could walk through a nuclear explosion and come out unscathed. With a thought, I manipulate the ball of destructive plasma energy, focusing on the wavelength of my firing magnum, and transform it into a ball of stunning particle energy. Just in time too as Beast leaps, claws out and teeth bared, only to receive the energy ball right in the face.

I duck as the now unconscious Beast goes sailing over my head, rendered instantly unconscious by the energy matrix. He hits the ground hard, tumbling head over heels as his momentum caries him forward, only stopping once he crashes into the side of the downed jet. Havoc releases a loud cry, a mix between a sob and rage filled shout, as he watches another one of his friends taken down by his own technique but I pay him no mind.

While my attention was on the two X-men, and my back was turned _(again)_, one of my opponents decided to strike. In this case it's Riptide, who has thrown a miniature twister at my turned back, hoping to blow me away with the gale force winds. Luckily for him, he witnessed my use of Shaw's ability and aborted his attack, knowing full well that it would be pointless.

The other mutants seem to have realized the same as no one is attacking me any longer, not even Magneto, who I'm sure, is remembering his near defeat at Shaw's hands; there's no Xavier to bail him out this time and he knows it.

With an amused chuckle, to hide my shock and elation at my new found power, I continue making my way towards Xavier, who is glaring at me hatefully. I can feel his telepathic assault against my aura, the psionic energy dissipating before it can even reach my mind, and continue forward with a wide smile. After what has got to be the most interesting stroll of my life, I'm standing above Xavier, grinning down at him even as he continues to glare at me. I do notice that there's a hint of fear to offset the hatred in his eyes, I'm not sure why he's so afraid, I haven't really done anything to threatened any of them, they attacked me first.

"Ah Charles, there's no need to fear, I'm not going to hurt you." I comment cheerfully, kneeling beside him and placing a hand on his chest, my eyes narrowed in concentration.

I can feel all sorts of energy flowing through him, suffusing every single one of his cells, the ones on his lower back releasing a low amount of 'life-force', or cellular energy as it's known in the scientific community, slowly healing his wound. It's not all that difficult to copy the wavelength of the energy and begin pushing it into his body, a ray of green energy pouring from my hand and into his chest.

Xavier gasps once in surprise before releasing a relieved sigh as the pain vanishes, there's a loud crack and his eyes widen in shock as his very spine begins to regenerate, I bet that feels pretty weird.

"You, you healed me?" he whispers in surprise, shaking one leg then the other, something that was impossible mere moments ago.

I nod and stand, clapping my hands together in a pleased manner. "Of course I did, I'm not your enemy Charles, in fact, I'm quite a fan of your work; this is the least I could do."

He stares back in shock for a moment, then his eyes narrow in anger. "A fan of my work? You just killed three of my friends! I'm grateful that you healed me, but I will never forgive you for that."

I simply chuckle once again, fueling his anger.

"Killed? Oh no, no, no, no, no." I reply, waving a finger, almost like I'm scolding him. "You really should verify before you accuse Charles, had you done so then you would know that your friends are simply unconscious; they'll wake up in a few hours feeling fully refreshed."

His eyes widen and I can practically see his psychic energy as it flows over the three forms of his friends, ascertaining the truth of my words.

"This is, this is amazing." He gasps, jumping to his feet. "They really are just unconscious."

That seems to calm the rest of the group, Havoc and MacTaggert releasing a sigh in relief, heck even Magneto looks a little relieved. Riptide and Azazel on the other hand look like they couldn't care less, both appearing to be completely disinterested with the goings on of the group, although they are eying me suspiciously; an expected response considering my little display a few minutes ago.

"I really must ask... What are you? What's your mutation?" Xavier asks excitedly, returning to his normal excitable state now that he knows I'm not an enemy. "I saw you use Shaw's powers back there, my bet is that you can absorb the powers of other mutants, which would explain all the voices in your mind."

He tries to smile but I can tell that the thought sickens and scares him, a mutant that can absorb other mutants and has done so to millions already? Scary thought. Deciding to alleviate his fears, I chuckle at that and shake my head in the negative, smiling when he releases a relieved sigh.

"My mutation is simply energy manipulation; the voices are just a technique I employ to keep telepaths out of my mind." The lie flows out freely, although the first part is sort of the truth.

"Amazing! Energy manipulation, that's a powerful ability right there," Xavier replies excitedly, looking curious when I mention my employed technique. "I wasn't aware there was a method to resist telepaths, I must say it's quite an effective one."

I smile and nod, preferring not to elaborate on my 'technique', much to his chagrin. I do make note of the calculating gleam in both Xavier and Magneto's eyes, which is to be expected as energy manipulation is an omega class mutant ability after all.

"You simply must join the team; we could use someone with your abilities and knowledge." Charles propositions, grinning friendlily in the hopes that I'll accept, I did say I was a fan after all.

Smirking in amusement at his antics, I take a step back a tear open a rip in the fabric of space, my smirk turns into a grin as I take in his wide eyes. I wonder if he can sense the infinite number of minds within the multiverse, that would be a major trip, he might just swear off telepathy if that were to happen.

"Sorry Charles but I have many places to be and many things to do." I reply with a shrug, making a motion towards the rip in the space-time continuum. "I'll be sure to come back and visit you in a few years though, it will be interesting to see how your actions serve to change the world and benefit mutant-kind."

He smiles at that and nods, hiding his disappointment at my reply but looking determined at my words regarding the future. Returning his nod, my gaze turns to Magneto, who's staring right at me with a mix of anger and shock, seems like I've made my first enemy.

"That goes for the both of you." I add as an afterthought to my previous comment, wondering if Magneto will still continue on his path or if my actions here have changed the future, it will be interesting to see.

With that I step into the void and head for my next destination, the rip sealing shut behind me and leaving the mutants to their antics.

* * *

Travel through the multiverse is quite disturbing this time around, as I'm able to sense the cosmic energies of the multiverse around me, it's quite a humbling feeling. Knowing about the infinite size of the multiverse is one thing, sensing it and realizing just how small of a speck I truly am in the grand scheme of things? Well, that's a whole other ballgame.

With a new insight into the insignificance of a single life, heck even a million lives, I realize just why the Ascended are so uncaring of the fate of the galaxy. In the grand scheme of things, a single galaxy is worth nothing, even a hundred galaxies are worthless, nothing can compare to the infinite space that is the multiverse.

It doesn't mean I'm going to be as hands off as the Ascended though, my actions may not mean anything in the end but they will still affect me and those I encounter. I may have all this power but I won't be as uninvolved as the Ascended, neither will I be as controlling as the Ori; in fact, an existence much like that of Q seems to be more up my alley.

Releasing a sigh at such uncharacteristic thoughts, I release my hold on my mutant powers and allow my senses to dim, an action that I plan to repeat whenever I cross through the multiverse. I've barely touched the surface of the multiverse and my entire outlook on life has been changed, perhaps there are something's that the mind just isn't ready to understand, the deeper workings of the multiverse is most definitely one of these things.

* * *

**-Central Multiverse. Earth 616-5. October of 1962-**

**"Well, well, well, this is a first."** Astok comments, whistling appreciatively. **"Rising from mortal human to lesser god in a matter of hours, that's quite an achievement."**

**"See? Didn't I tell you this guy would be entertaining?"** Ludvig asks in reply, grinning widely. **"He knows what he wants and just what to do to get it, I happen to like his method of doing it too, it's so much faster than ascension. You have to admit, this is way better than watching those Alterans meditating for hours on end, day after day, just to move up to one of the lower planes."**

**"Oh yeah, those were a few of the most boring centuries of my existence." **Astok replies, grimacing at the memory. **"I just hope he doesn't go overboard, god or not, he can only rise so high and handle so much power before he's overwhelmed and torn asunder."**

**"Indeed, hopefully he's smart enough not to make that mistake; otherwise this will be one of the shortest rounds since the time we all bet against Volian."** Ludvig agreed solemnly, his mood changing as his gaze returned to Dorian's progress. **"Hey, look where he's headed next."**

Turning his attention to the traveler, Astok followed the Dorian's path through the multiverse, grinning as he noticed what lay at the very end of that path.

**"Alright! My superhero realm, good choice Dorian!"** Astok cheered, watching as the rip formed and Dorian entered said reality. **"Oh, this should be so much fun!"**

**"Ha, it will be interesting at the least."** Ludvig chuckles.

* * *

**-Earth 224-3. New Orleans. March of 2007-**

My thoughts on the complexity and vastness of the multiverse are dashed away as I exit the reality rip, into a mess of smoke and fire, this is not one of my best exits.

Drawing on my mutation once more, I form my centimeter thick aura and instantly put an end to the fire and heat licking at my skin. Unfortunately, this does nothing for the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere, forcing me to release a few coughs as I inhale the smoke floating around the room.

'_Note to self, find a way to breathe without oxygen.'_ I muse, forming a gust of wind to blow the smoke away from my immediate surroundings.

As the majority of my future plans will involve the vacuum of space, I really need to find some way to create oxygen or remove my requirement of it at the least, something far beyond the capabilities of energy manipulation. Despite my ability to form gusts of air and whatnot, actually creating oxygen or manipulating atoms is far beyond me, that power lies in the realm of matter manipulation.

'_Hold on a tick…'_ I grin, a sudden idea springing to mind. _'Well, I know where I'm headed next.' _

Future plans aside, I should really focus on the reason I'm here, namely the blonde woman laying a few feet away. With a skip in my step, I make my way to her side and kneel, my hand placed on the arm of one Niki Sanders.

While she's unconscious, I'm pleased to see that she is still alive, which means that this warehouse could blow at any moment. Expanding my aura to cover her form, I stand and grin at the obstacle blocking the exit, a burning beam leaning against the door.

'_Hmm, should I move it or phase through it?'_ I muse, mentally running through both options in my mind. _'Or… option number three.'_

My grin turns dastardly and I draw my gun, the Particle Magnum powering up with a low hum, a click signifying the change in firing mode. I don't even bother to aim, simply pointing the gun at my target and firing a slew of shots, eight in total. A few shots hit the beam and the door while the rest slam into the walls on either side, the end result is a broken beam and doorway, the weakened wood falling apart as large chunks of it are disintegrated; a job well done.

Unfortunately, the warehouse chooses this time to explode, the blast destroying the walls and rendering my doorway unnecessary. Oh well, with a shrug I bend down and pick Niki up, stubbornly choosing to pass through the spot where my doorway was located rather than the much closer exit formed from the destroyed walls.

Humming to myself, I pass through the remains of the warehouse, my aura several inches thick as it feeds off the thermal energy from both the earlier explosion and the flames I'm passing through. Around this time Niki has woken up, the healing energy I've been pouring into her counteracting the effects of smoke inhalation; hmm, I wonder what effect this has on the virus within her.

"What the hell?" she gasps, head swiveling about in wonder as we pass through another wall of flames. "This is impossible."

I simply chuckle and smile, choosing to remain quiet as I carry her through the building, at this point she's noticed my awesome suit and eyes and is staring, a mix of shock and curiosity clear on her face.

"Who are you?" She asks, voice tinged with a hint of warning. "What do you want with me?"

"Oh, I don't want anything from you Miss Sanders." I reply, smiling in what I hope is a charming manner. "I just saw someone in danger and decided to assist."

Her mouth is slack for a moment as she simply stares, finally she decides to say something but it's too late, we're outside.

"Mom!" a voice shouts, drawing her full attention away from me.

"Micah!" Niki shouts in reply.

I set her down and withdraw my aura just in time for her son to crash into her, sobbing and wailing as he hugs his mom tightly.

"I thought you were dead." Micah sobs, his face buried in his mother's shoulder.

Niki pats his back and whispers into his ear, but I choose not to listen in and turn my attention to the third person on the street.

"Hello, I'm Dorian." I greet, holding out a hand.

She takes a look at my suit and eyes, before smiling wide and shaking my hand. "Hi, I'm Monica, thanks for saving my cousin."

With that she turns her attention to the couple knelt on the street, no questions asked about my appearance or abilities, not even about the three inch thick aura of red light surrounding my body. I know she was written to be nice and polite for the show but still, no questions or suspicions is a bit of a far stretch, she doesn't even seem to care that I might be projecting harmful radiation.

Speaking of which, I should really release this energy soon, I've absorbed quite a bit of power from my stroll through the warehouse, power that needs to be released in some form or another. Being energy, I can't simply destroy or dispel it, it needs to be used and released in some form.

A tap on my leg draws me from my thoughts, I can't actually feel it but I can sense the kinetic energy being absorbed, and I glance down to see Micah staring at me with wide eyes.

"Thanks for saving my mom." He whispers, using that shy, yet excited, tone I've come to associate with his character.

"No problem," I reply, smiling wide. "It's what heroes do."

That causes him to grin, Niki behind him huffs in exasperation, this will probably fuel the kids 'let's be heroes' desire. Oh well.

"Are you special like us?" Micah asks, eyes twinkling with curiosity.

I raise a brow at that; can't he see the aura I'm radiating? My awesome eyes? Stylish suit? I'm practically the definition of special; the other two seem to share the same sentiment.

"Of course he's special Micah, he's the farthest from normal as it gets." Monica comments, before her eyes widen and she turns to me. "No offense."

I simply smile and shrug; I'm more worried by the look on Micah's face.

"I know he's different Monica," the little guy replies, eyes squinted in concentration. "I meant if he's special like us or if he was built that way."

Well, that just causes confusion all around.

"What do you mean honey?" Niki asks, coming forward to place a hand on her sons shoulder.

Micah glances up at her before turning back me, eyes narrowed once again.

"I don't know, I don't think he's human." The kid replies, causing all three of us to perk up in surprise, me most of all.

What is it with people thinking I'm not human? Is it the eyes? The suit? I expect to receive this reaction in some realities, the Stargate one most of all, but here? Coming from a kid that's met all sorts of 'special' people? This is really unexpected.

"What makes you say that?" I ask, noticing the slight shift in Niki's stance, she's prepared to fight if it comes to it. Micah doesn't look all that worried and I don't think Monica would hurt a fly, not without being threatened first.

"I can sense it." Micah replies, frowning and concentrating once more. "You're like a machine, but not, it's really confusing."

Ah, my nanites, I should have expected that. Considering this kid's ability, I don't feel all that comfortable knowing he can sense my nanites, at least I know what to do with all this pent up energy now.

With little warning my aura pulses, the energy exploding off my form and covering everything in a ten meter radius. I'm not sure what affect this has on animals and bugs inside the area but the three humans in front of me drop to the ground, the wave of stunning energy rendering them unconscious in an instant.

While I know it would have been simpler to just explain who I am and what I want to them, the approaching sirens informs me that I'm low on time, besides, I'm still trying to avoid the whole 'monologing' thing. There's also the fact that Micah can apparently 'sense' my nanites, I don't want him ordering them around, that's a bigger recipe for disaster than having Magneto sense them.

I can hear the sirens getting closer by the second; I really should hurry this up.

Kneeling beside Micah, I place my hand on his chest and focus, relaying my orders to Caine as I do so. Once more the slot opens on the MURS device, allowing the silvery sludge of the nanites to spill forth, eating a hole through the kid's shirt and seeping into his skin. A few seconds pass before the nanites return, allowing me to stand as they flow back inside my bloodstream, a job well done.

While I don't perform the splicing now, being low on time and all, I have Micah's genome stored within my nanite database, allowing me to implement it at a later time. With Micah's powers, my future plans are slowly coming together, the ability to literally tell machines what to do is one I just can't pass up.

With this power, all technology is mine to command, even a highly advanced technological device like the MURS will obey my commands without pause, no machine will be able to deny me. This will most definitely come in handy in the Stargate universe; I could actually steal a Goa'uld mothership without the hassle of fighting my way to the Pel'tak, heck I could even command the Stargate to do my bidding.

This trip was most definitely worth it.

As I turn to leave, wanting to disappear before one of the firefighters sees me, I catch a glimpse of Monica's body and a sudden idea springs to mind, I should take her ability as well. While I'd originally planned to acquire the Sharingan for its memorization and copying abilities, Monica's powers will be far more useful than those of the Sharingan.

For starters, I can already memorize and store large amounts of information through the nanites floating in my brain, essentially making the photographic memory of the Sharingan useless. There's also the fact that the stored information will only rise to the forefront when I require it, rather than being there constantly like the information gathered by the Sharingan.

Secondly, I can actually 'sense' different kinds of energy, an ability far superior to being able to see Chakra. As far as I know, the Sharingan can only see Chakra, I don't know whether it can see other types of energy, which would make it useless outside of the Narutoverse. Not to mention the fact that my energy manipulation can easily allow me to replicate all techniques granted by the Sharingan, including those of the Mangekyo Sharingan.

Lastly, while the Sharingan will allow me to copy and perform any action I witness, it will be far inferior and sloppy compared to the original action, requiring constant practice in order to master it. Monica's ability on the other hand, will grant me instant mastery of any action I witness, as it will be my muscles that memorize it rather than my brain.

Unfortunately, with the alteration to my genes to enable reality travel, the introduction of energy manipulation and Micah's powers, I've performed three out of the five alterations that the nanites can handle. Adding Monica's will make four and there are still two abilities that I want to acquire, meaning I'll have to discard one if I want to have enough.

'_Hmm... That's a bit problematic.'_ I muse, running through all six abilities in my mind. _'I definitely need Micah and Shaw's abilities, Monica's not so much but it will make things far simpler, unless I want to actually spend years learning how to fight.'_

While time might be irrelevant with the MURS, I don't have the patience to spend years training and learning how to fight, especially when it comes to sword fighting and shooting.

'_I can't handle multiverse transport without the first alteration though, my body would be torn apart.'_ At this point my thoughts are racing; the vehicles are only a block away now. _'If only my body was actually strong enough to handle it, then I could…'_

A grin stretches across my face as another idea comes to me, this might just work out.

Moving as fast as I can, I kneel next to Monica and activate the MURS, informing Caine to work as fast as he can. By the time the first fire truck turns the corner I'm gone, slipping through the reality tear and away from the crime scene.

That was a close one.

* * *

**-Earth 224-3. New York City. April of 2006-**

I exit the reality rip onto the empty rooftop of a tall imposing building, one located in the center of the most well-known American city.

Having escaped the fire trucks and actually traveled back in time, I feel like I'm allowed a moments rest before I go after my next target, this will also give me the chance to implement my newest mutations.

"Caine." I call, my voice echoing around the rooftops.

The AI appears before me, clad in his stylish suit and smiling benignly.

"_Yes Dorian?"_ he asks, joining me on a seat on the rooftop, our legs dangling off the edge. _"What do you require?"_

"What can you tell me about the two genomes I've just acquired?" I ask, wondering if the powers of this reality count as mutations as well.

Caine is silent for a moment, examining the two samples of DNA that I've collected before replying.

"_Both appear to be wholly human with an additional genetic strand, one that requires an additional component to activate, a form of radiation only encountered in a quarter of the realms accessible from the multiverse."_ Caine replies, displaying an energy wavelength on the MURS screen.

Interesting, this must be the same energy released during the eclipse, the energy that activates and disables abilities in this reality.

"Interesting, are you capable of isolating the specific abilities granted by the gene? The exact same ability granted to the humans I extracted the genomes from?" I ask, hoping the answer is yes.

I would hate to go to all this trouble just to find out I can only gain a single unique ability, which would be pretty annoying. Then again, what if my ability is a super cool power? One that was never shown in the show… nah, I'd prefer Micah and Monica's powers.

"_It will require the creation of a synthetic gene, one that incorporates the extra gene as well as the DNA of the donor."_ Caine replies, causing me to grin widely. _"I can synthesize the genes using excess waste and materials from within your body, it will require several minutes work however."_

Nice, nanites are so awesome.

"Go ahead and do so, I want both of those abilities before I move on the next target." I command, pushing the single button required of me.

Caine nods and vanishes, activating the nanites as he does so and beginning the first step of the process, a countdown clock appears on the MURS screen; an hour and thirty minutes until completion.

"Well, that gives me time for a well-deserved lunch." I hum, activating the cloaking component of the MURS and hopping off the roof.

I land without a sound, the kinetic energy of my fall being absorbed with ease and begin making my way down the street, paying no attention to who bounces off my aura; if the invisible man could get away with it, why can't I?

* * *

Hidden within an alleyway behind my targets building, I deactivate my cloak and activate the phasing device, grinning as my body is pulled into an alternate dimension. With silent steps I pass through the wall before me and instantly focus on the man sitting a few feet away, a man who's full attention is on the small pocket watch in his hand, Gabriel Gray a.k.a Sylar.

I've made my appearance far before he's gained all of his abilities, far before he's had a chance to kill and murder his way to his invincible power. Not that I have much of a choice anyways, I want his original ability, his ability to instantly _understand_ how things work; it'll be easier to gain said ability without dozens of other abilities mixed in.

Still unnoticed by my target, I drop back into phase and make my presence known, choosing to scare him much like he does his future victims.

"Hello Gabriel." I comment, causing him to spin in his seat, eyes wide with surprise.

Before he can react to my sudden appearance, I flick the fingers on my right hand, causing him to go flying across the room. Another sweep of my hand forces him up against the wall, restraining him and pinning him to the wall with an invisible force.

Huh, telekinesis is far simpler than I expected, then again I'm not exactly using my mind to achieve the same effect as an actual telekinetic. My method involves simply manipulating kinetic energy to achieve the same ability as an actual psychic, and I've absorbed more than enough kinetic energy to know how it all works.

"Isn't this ironic?" I ask, slowly stalking up to him, ignoring the sheer terror in his eyes as he takes in my appearance. "Then again, I suppose you have no idea what I'm talking about."

He tries to speak but I flick my fingers once more, causing his mouth to close with a painful sounding click, effectively silencing him. "Please don't try to beg Gabriel, I know what you are, what you're capable of."

With that my hand is on his chest, nanites seeping into his skin and copying his DNA, ignoring his wide, terrified eyes. Once the nanites are extracted I release him, allowing him to drop to the floor, free from the restraint of my power.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you Gabriel, do try and behave or I might just come back to deal with you." I finish, looking up as the bell above the door rings.

With a quick burst of movement I'm cloaked and out of the store, easily passing through the now open door without disturbing the man entering the store. I take one final look into the store before leaving, Sylar is sitting up now, his head darting around frighteningly as Chandra Suresh rushes to his side; the old man doing his best to help the man that will likely kill him in the future.

I could have just killed Sylar and saved the lives of his future victims, but that would just mess with the space-time continuum and change the future of this reality. I don't much care about the space-time continuum and all that jazz but knowing how the future of this world will go, I don't feel like changing things all that much, not as far as Sylar is concerned at least.

While I feel bad about the people he'll kill someday, none of that matters in the grand scheme of things, they're just a handful of insignificant dots where the multiverse is concerned. Killing Sylar could just make things worse for this reality, otherwise Hiro and Peter would have gone back in time and ended him much sooner, then again it might be because the screenwriters didn't think of that.

Either way, I dont plan to kill Sylar nor do I feel the need to save his future victims, a pointless task all things considering; after all, there are countless dimensions out there, many of which where those very people do survive and live long saving them in a single dimension will make absolutely no difference in the grand scheme, other that providing me with some amount of entertainment...hm.. nah, not worth it, I have other things to deal with.

Satisfied with the completion of my task, I leave the store behind, turning into a nearby alley and dropping my cloak.

"Caine," I call, suppressing a startled jump as the AI appears beside me, falling in stride with my steps. "Synthesize and implement the new ability I've just acquire, but make sure it can be turned off whenever I will it."

While my other abilities are built without a shutoff switch, I need Sylar's ability to have one; it's far too dangerous to have it activated at all the time. Coupled with my other abilities, the hunger for knowledge and power could lead to the death of millions of innocents, I just can't have that happening. Besides, Intuitive Aptitude is an ability that is only required at certain times, namely when I want to learn the inner workings of a highly advanced device without wasting my time.

Caine nods and vanishes, returning to wherever he stays when he's not needed, probably some digitized world similar to that of the human form replicators.

'_Hmm, what can I do for seventy-five minutes?' _I wonder, taking a glance at the countdown clock on the MURS screen. _'Maybe some sleep before I go pick a fight with a god.'_


	3. Godhood and Trouble

**Rise of the Collective**

**Disclaimer:** If you recognize anything in this story, I don't own it.

"Hello" - General Speaking.

_'Hello'_ - Thoughts.

A/N: It's come to my attention that some of you don't exatly know the references I'm making in relation to Dorian's powers, as such I've provided a full list of his powers and their description at the bottom of the page.

Also, sorry this took so long to update but I've been a bit busy with life.

* * *

**Chapter 3: **Godhood and Trouble

**-Central Multiverse. The Nexus. Unknown time-**

I cant help but feel that something has gone wrong, horribly, horribly wrong.

For starters, my journey through the multiverse seems to be taking far longer that it should, so long in fact that I'm tempted to call on my mutations just to figure out what is going on. I dont do that however, sensing energy mixed with intuitive aptitude would likely drive me insane when used in the multiverse, a risk I dont feel like taking.

Understanding the inner workings of the multiverse is an experience I dont feel like partaking in.

Ever.

Luckily, before I can get too bored and worried, a rip opens before me and I find myself exiting the multiverse... only to drop to my knees, gasping for air as I find myself standing in a barren, airless wasteland far from my target. I find myself clawing at the ground, one hand at my throat as I struggle to breath, it's to no avail unfortunately.

Well, this isn't good, not in the slightest.

Approaching footsteps draw my attention, each slow step echoing loudly in this silent expanse and I look up, my eyes wide and wet.

He's tall, naked, powerfully built and glowing blue.

He is Doctor Manhattan.

Well... that explains how I got here.

Only a clairvoyant and reality warper like Manhattan could have interfered with my trip to this reality, clearly I was not as prepared for this as I first thought.

The source of my wayward journey comes to a stop before me, head cocked to the side and examining me with curious, yet emotionless eyes. I really, really hope this meeting goes well or at least better than I'd originally planned.

My original plan was to confront him on earth, where our powers would be somewhat equal as he'd be unable to truly harm me in a way that I couldn't absorb and he'd also have to show some restraint, otherwise he would destroy his own planet.

Or so I hoped.

On Mars however... well, it seems that I'm completely outclassed.

Thankfully, Manhattan releases a pulse of... something, making the area around us breathable. Now **that** is the reason I'm here, the ability to turn such a toxic and uninhabitable planet as Mars into a liveable ecosystem, a power that is far beyond my current capabilities.

"Hello Dorian." Manhattan greets, his tone even and emotionless.

"Er... what's up Doc?" I reply, shakily standing while doing my best to catch my breath.

Standing at six foot-five inches, I'm quite a tall guy and I usually find myself standing a full head above most people. Manhattan on the other hand, towers over me at seven feet tall, causing me to stare up in order to look at his face. This must be how other (read: short) people feel in my presence, it's not a good feeling.

"I've been expecting you Dorian." Manhattan replies, blinking once and turning his head to the side, blankly staring off into the distance.

"Oh.. that's good?" I mutter, trying to keep my tone polite, this guy is the only reason I'm still alive right now.

"Yes." he nods, holding out a hand. "It is."

With a flash of blinding blue light, a beaker appears in his hand, one full of a thick, blue fluid.

Manhattan holds it out to me, his face emotionless and cold.

"This is what you came for." he explains, tone even and seemingly bored.

Well... this is surprising.

I was expecting a fight, an extremely difficult one at that. Instead, I get exactly what I want handed right to me, Doctor Manhattans blood. This is highly suspicious, is this some sort of trick or is Manhattan actually just handing me his powers, his godhood.

Who cares, **this** is a risk I'm more than willing to take.

"Thanks!" I chirp cheerfully, holding my hand over the beaker and activating the NID.

Metallic silver ooze drips into the beaker, swirling with the blue liquid for few seconds before returning to me, leaving an empty beaker behind.

"Goodbye Dorian." Manhattan replies, already turning away.

With that, a rip opens behind me and before I can react or speak, I'm sucked into the multiverse and pulled away.

That went well, all things considered.

* * *

**-Mars 912-1. Manhattan's Palace. October of 1985-**

"It is done." Doctor Manhattan intones, striding through the halls of his crystalline palace.**  
**

**"Well done Jon, I knew we could count on you."** a voice chuckles, a humanoid being composed of light and shadow falling into step with the blue toned man.

Manhattan frowns imperceptibly.

"I did not have much of a choice, even lacking air, Dorian could have destroyed this entire solar system before dying." Manhattan replies, tone emotionless yet still respectful. "This was the only way."

**"Perhaps,"** the being replies, rubbing its chin in thought. **"Then again, Dorian isn't that ruthless, I don't think he would end so many lives out of spite."**

"No, he is not ruthless." Manhattan agrees, nodding slightly. "But he understands the way of the multiverse, the people of my earth are meaningless in the grand scheme, he would not have hesitated to drag them to their death as well."

**"Indeed."** the being hums, beginning to fade away. **"Nevertheless, he has what he needs, he will not be bothering your section of the multiverse again. We will see to it."**

"Thank you Astok, I appreciate it." Manhattan replies, knowing full well that his words will be heard even if Astok was no longer there.

* * *

**-Central Multiverse. The Nexus. Unknown Time-**

I find myself floating within the multiverse, directionless and lost but wholly satisfied with myself, I have Manhattans blood and his powers with them, the power of a god.

While matter manipulation happens to be the reason I went after Manhattan, there are greater advantages to be gained from such an ability. As far as I understand it, matter manipulation, when mixed with energy manipulation, grants a greater and more powerful ability, reality warping; the power to actually manipulate the fabric of reality with a single touch, the power of a true god.

I'll have to be extremely careful about which of Manhattans abilities I gain however, omnipotence is something I dont mind having, omniscience however is not for me. Frankly, I think being able to see the past, present and future is more of a curse than it is a gift, it makes life boring and unexciting.

Which probably explains why most godlike beings are so apathetic to the concerns of the mortal realms... something to look into.

Oh well, enough of that.

Time to get to work on my new powers.

* * *

**-Central Multiverse. Unknown Place. Unknown Time-**

A being of light and shadow floats within the void of the multiverse, a being of light and shadow in the form of a female humanoid.

**"Astria, have you been keeping an eye on this cycles game?"** a voice chimes from the void, causing the being to turn her head, hand rising in greeting.

A second being appears from the depths of the multiverse, this one also female and also formed of light and shadow.

**"Of course I have Lynette,"** Astria replies, head turning to peer into the depths of the multiverse. **"Once again, Ludvig has cheated and created an overpowered character for his own amusement."**

"Oh but it goes beyond that Astria, he has created a new god." Lynette chuckles, appearing beside her friend.

**"Truly? Then he is a bigger fool that I thought." **Astria replies, turning her attention back to her small section of the void.

**"Indeed,"** Lynette nods, glancing at the realms floating below them. **"However, from what Astok has told me, this new god will eventually find his way to your realms."**

**"What?"** Astria screeches, her form flashing an angry shade of crimson. **"Why?"**

**"To interfere of course, this is simply another one of Ludvig's digs at your Ascended, pitting a god against your children."** Lynette replies, rolling her eyes sarcastically.

**"Ugh, what can I do?"** Astria growls, flashing through several shades of red.

**"Very little, you know the rules,"** Lynette sighs, looking away from the realms below. **"We can hardly interfere unless we are taking part in the game."**

**"Damn it Lynette, there must be something."** Astria growls, her form slowly returning to normal. **"I'm not going back until Ludvig apologizes!"**

**"Hmm, there might be a way."** Lynette hums, tapping her chin in thought.

**"Oh? Do tell."** Astria asks, cocking her head to the side.

**"We can't interfere directly but if you were to choose a champion and send him against Ludvig's chosen, that should allow you to remain within the rules of the game."** Lynette explains, hands folded behind her back. **"There is precedence for it."**

**"Ha, brilliant!"** Astria cheered, flashing bright gold. **"And I know just who to send."**

**"Really?"** Lynette asked, cocking a brow in question. **"Who do you plan to send? Dorian is a powerful being despite his youth."**

**"That is true."** Astria agreed, glancing into the depths of the void once more. **"But there are many that were created to slay gods, one of those will suffice."**

**"Ah, so who will it be?"** Lynette asked, her tone bright and cheerful. **"Kratos? Zancrow? or maybe the sorcerer Belgarion? There are so many choices."**

**"Neither of those."** Astria sighed, shaking her head. **"Knowing Ludvig, his chosen will be far too powerful for any old mortal to handle, what we need is an immortal with the power of a god."**

**"You dont mean.."** Lynette gasped, her thoughts flowing in much the same direction.

**"Indeed I do,"** Astria replied, a cheshire grin spreading across her face. **"I will send Desak the Godslayer."**

* * *

**Dorian's Powers:** All of this information is from the Superpower Wiki.

1) **Energy manipulation: **This power allows Dorian to manipulate all forms of energy in whatever way he wishes, he can absorb it, control it and even eat it. However, Dorian can't create or destroy energy, that goes against the laws of the universe. Dorian gained this power by absorbing the blood of Sebastian Shaw, a mutant from the X-men movie universe.

2) **Matter Manipulation: **This power allows Dorian to manipulate anything that has substance and mass, this involves substances as small as an atom to substances as large as a celestial body, anything classified as matter can be manipulated by him. Dorian is however unable to manipulate Antimatter with this power, as it destroys matter on contact. Dorian was given this power by Doctor Manhattan, a quasi-god from the Watchmen universe.

2.5) **Reality Warping: **This power allows Dorian to manipulate the fabric of reality as he pleases, he can basically do anything he wants, even rewrite the laws of physics of an entire universe. Despite its great power, this ability is ineffective against other godlike beings, as well as beings that exist outside of reality. Dorian gained this power through the mixing of his matter and energy manipulation abilities.

3) **Technopathy:** This power allows Dorian to detect machines and issue them commands, machines will do whatever he commands, even if it involves overriding security protocols and codes. Only complex machines that can receive electronic, radio and digital transmissions can be affected by this power. Dorian gained this ability from Micah Sanders, an inhabitant of the Heroes TV show universe.

4) **Adoptive Muscle Memory:** This power allows Dorian to easily copy and perform any movement he witnesses, it will even allow him to copy how a person aims or how a person fights, giving him perfect marksmanship and fighting ability. Dorian gained this ability from Monica Dawson, an inhabitant of the Heroes TV show universe.

5) **Intuitive Aptitude:** This power allows Dorian to instantly learn and understand how things work, however constant use of this ability can cause an insatiable 'hunger' for knowledge and information. Dorian gained this ability from Dorian Gray, an inhabitant of the Heroes TV show universe.


End file.
